Gundam Seed Intervention
by Illuviar
Summary: I decided to try my hand with the SI genre. I awoke in an Earth Alliance shuttle, after being informed that I was drafted to clean up the mess that is the CE. Lucky me. To make things even more fun, I was informed me that I have been fortunate enough to be turned into one of the EA's Human CPU's and if I did not toe the line the medicaments I now needed to function won't be coming.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.**

**AN: This part was betaed by BakaSmurf on the Space Battle's forums! Thank you for the splendid work!**

**Gundam Seed Intervention**

**Prologue: Shades of grey**

**=GSI=**

**-  
Location: Unknown  
Time: Irrelevant  
-**

For those of you that do not know how this particular kind of cluster-fuck starts; I was lucky (or unlucky enough depending on your point of view) to catch the attention of a Random Omnipotent Being. One moment I was at work, guzzling coffee like there was no tomorrow and trying to stay awake after a night of insomnia and then, just after I closed my eyes for a moment I was... Somewhere else. If you are wondering, no it was not an empty void. In fact, I was floating in space with my jaw hanging open in stunned awe.

If you've seen pictures of the Earth from orbit, you'll know that it looks magnificent. Those pics floating around the net have nothing on the real thing. At the time I just stared at the beautiful, blue marble I was facing. It did not register to me that by now I should have died from decompression. After all, just floating in orbit without the luxury of space suit is usually fatal...

_"Nice view, isn't it?"_ Asked a pleasant, female voice.

I tried to turn my head and see whom was speaking, in a vacuum no less! But despite my efforts I was just floating in place unable to turn around and see who or what was behind me.

Then I realized that I was in space.

My elation was short-lived, mere seconds after I comprehended that I was still alive despite the conspicuous absence of a space suit I reached the obvious conclusion; that I was having an especially vivid dream.

_"Nope. You are not dreaming!" _Chirped the female with a tingle of amusement in her voice.

Riiight. A figment of my imagination is speaking to me. At least she has a lovely voice.

I decided to play ball. It was my dream after all so why not have some fun? What's the worst that could happen, me awakening? Granted, considering the insomnia I was suffering from lately that might be a bit of a problem... Not getting close to enough sleep is not fun at all.

"So, if I am not dreaming, then what's happening? I just became superman on steroids and now can ignore the vacuum of space, not to mention that I have not yet boiled alive?" I quipped.

The figment of my imagination chuckled.

_"No, silly! You just got conscripted!"_

Say what?! In my opinion conscription is usually not a good thing, especially if you're the one whom gets shafted by it...

_"I've been looking for someone like you for a long time, and I mean __**long**__!" _Declared the woman.

I could feel the emphasis she was placing on the word 'long.' As if it was especially important in a context I did not get. I had no idea then how significant that was.

"Uh huh. I'm nothing special you know."

_"Unfortunately you are not that lucky... I am afraid that I can not afford to give you a choice at the moment, I require your services. I would prefer that you comply willingly but... Well there are ways to ensure your cooperation one way or the other..." _She said in a voice which had become as hard as diamond.

Somehow I could feel that she would prefer not to force my hand, but there was a sense of foreboding when I thought of disagreeing. I began to sincerely hope that this really was just a dream...

My eyes were suddenly assaulted by a brilliant flash of light and I was standing on the bow of a large, oddly familiar red spaceship. It shuddered and in the next moment a giant robot flew past me. It quickly faded into the distance, but not before I could recognize its general shape and coloring; it was the bloody Freedom!

Being a fan of all things mecha, not to mention most Mobile Suits, my first reaction was that of utter glee at seeing this splendid machine. My second, considering where the Freedom and its pilot usually wound up, smack dab middle of big trouble and even bigger battles, was to pinch myself once, then again. Yup, it hurt. I had a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach...

"...I'm not dreaming, am I?" I asked in a meek tone.

Silence reigned for several moments before I received a response.

_"I am sure that you are already aware of the answer to that question."_

Being a lurker on the Spacebattles forums and other sites where fan fiction was being published, I had an inkling of what she was talking about.

Yeah, after reading a lot of fan fics, especially Self-Insert ones, I was probably more genre savvy then most about this sort of situation.

I gulped fearfully. "You... Are a bit different from most ROB's I've read about." I stated in a barely audible voice.

A soft snort came from the right. I snapped my head in that direction but all I saw was endless void and the sparkling of distant stars. Without the atmosphere and all the pollution thrown in it in the last century to distort the sky, the sight was incredible. However I had much more immediate concerns than staring at the stars. Oh boy. A ROB had set her sights on me. This won't end well. I just know it.

This time she spoke from the left but there was nothing when I looked in that direction either.

_"I'll tell you a deep, dark secret. Some of us, whom you call 'ROB's' have few restrictions placed upon us. What is relevant in this case is the fact that I can not directly meddle in the universe over which I preside. With few notable exceptions..."_

Now, I may not be the fastest bloke on the uptake but I had a sinking feeling that I had been 'recruited' to do her dirty work, the one she was not permitted to directly clean up herself. Suddenly I was enveloped by a sense of profound satisfaction.  
_  
"You got it!" she chirped. "I have few jobs that need doing! Nothing too complicated, or dangerous!"_

Uhuh. Even without hindsight I knew that was probably the understatement of the century.

I could feel a presence closing in on me. Her pleasant voice whispered in my ear.  
_  
"We are going to change the past!"_

I just gave a defeated nod. No point of attempting to inform her of all the wonderful ways I could think of such a plan backfiring, she more then likely knew much more about it then I did anyways. My first impulse of calling her insane did not strike me as a great idea either. At least I managed to keep my mouth shut. Antagonizing the ROB that brought me here, provided that this really wasn't an especially vivid dream could not be terribly conductive towards my continued survival. All she needed to do was to remove whatever force was keeping me alive and I'd have a first hand experience of how vacuum effects the human body. That's something I believe that I can gleefully pass on, thank you very much.  
_  
"You are correct, you know. Most people would indeed call me insane."_

Ah. And she's a mind reader to boot.

Even if I could generally keep myself from putting my oversized foot in my mouth too often, that didn't mean that I didn't think less than flattering things about others on an all too often basis. Fuck me and all my shitty luck.  
_  
"I appreciate the offer, but I must apologize, for my heart and body belongs to another." She cheekily deadpanned._

Wait, what!? Bloody mind reader...  
_  
"Now let's be serious. I have a job for you. What you know as 'Gundam SEED,' and later 'Gundam SEED Destiny?' Well, they exist in this dimension as well. Specifically as historical television dramas made about forty years after the events of the second program. While SEED was largely faithful to actual history, Destiny is pure fiction after the Junius Seven colony drop. A 'what if' scenario, if you will. The remains of Junius Seven hit the surface of the Earth mostly intact, it was a Class 6 total planetary extinction level event. The Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty only managed to evacuate fifty million people before it was too late."_

Suddenly I was watching the Earth again, yet I barely recognized it. In fact, had her smaller lunar sibling not been visible I would not have believed that this was Terra. The planet was covered by thick, black clouds with massive, continent-sized storms dancing to-and-fro, easily visible even from my distant vantage point with the entire stellar body in clear view.

This was a dead world. What little could have survived the immediate effects of the impact would have been choked to death by the sheer amount of dust thrown up into the air and trapped in the atmosphere. Not to mention frozen in the inevitable ice age brought about by the ominous black clouds completely shrouding the surface from view, impenetrable by the sun's rays. What the impact would have done to the tectonic plates... Awakening super volcanoes and causing earthquakes of continental scales all over the world was probably just a sideshow in comparison.  
_  
"Preventing this atrocity is your primary objective, however I need you to help cleaning up house within both the Earth Federation and ZAFT high command. I shall only be capable of providing you limited support. Good luck."_

**=GSI=**

I awoke with a startled gasp. Before I had completely shook the drowsiness from my head my first thoughts amounted to 'thank God that was just a dream.' Moments later, when it registered where I was those thoughts instead turned to 'oh, shit.' I was not sleeping in bed at home, or even taking a nap at work (never a good thing!) after a sleepless night... Oh no, I was strapped in one of the seats of the passenger compartment of some kind of shuttle.

Something shifted in my head, I winced as dull pain racked my brain before I received something resembling an info dump. Joy.

I was on board an X-42 Transport Shuttle, used primary by the Earth Alliance military to move people around their space stations and ships. It was a reliable flying brick which however was light on armor and had no weapons to speak of, no real reason to install some. It was not as if the transport could actually hit a MS which was paying attention to its surroundings or survive a determined assault for more than a hit or two from anything fielded by ZAFT anyway. Not with any amount of armor plating that would be practical for a mass produced shuttle. The bloody thing was slow as hell on top of everything else as well.

'So... Not a dream.' I thought to myself. I looked through the window placed in the starboard bulkhead and I was treated with an awesome view of a massive space station. It was a cylinder spinning lazily in place. The bloody thing had to be several kilometers long. I never noticed how I got out of the harness keeping me safely in place in my seat and proceeded to press my nose to the window and stare at the sight, utterly awestruck. That there was no gravity in the shuttle did not register to me at that moment. It was as if was normal, nothing worth noticing at any rate. The more concerning fact – that I knew how to move in such environment and did so as if it was natural did not register either.

Do you think how to walk before doing so? Or how to take something in your hand? No, you just do it.

My gazing upon the colossal space station, a Space Colony, my mind interjected, I blinked owlishly as I was interrupted by quiet beeping coming from the front of my clothes. Just then I noticed the transparent reflection of myself in the window. Well, I looked like myself, however I was no longer overweight. That was great! On the other hand I was wearing a military uniform. It was light blue in color and familiar. As if it was natural for me to see myself in it. That was strange to say at least, considering that I have never been in the military!

Unbidden, the necessary information came to me. Earth Alliance officer uniform, the rank insignia was that of a first lieutenant. It was the standard issue, with a rank of ribbons on the left breast over the heart. I could recognize what prestigies they symbolized, but when I thought of how I could have acquired them I received a sudden, splitting headache which caused me to gasp in surprise and pain. Disjointed pieces of what might have been memories not my own flashed before my eyes.

**=GSI**

Multicoloured explosions in space. Ranks of Mobile Armors cruising to meet their nemesis – the ZAFT Mobile Suits which were advancing as vanguard before one of their fleets. Tracers, hyper velocity pieces of metal, missiles and beams lit up the void of space. The Armors were outmatched in all respects. The enemy machines were faster, tougher and most importantly more manoeuvrable. But worst of all, each of their pilots outclassed our's. One after another Mobile Armors crumbled, just more chaff for the fires of war.

I was in the cockpit of a Moebius Zero Mobile Armor. Four wire-guided gunbarrel pods mounting auto-cannons, which were the trump card of my machine, maneuvered independently under my control. With a gentle flick of the control stick, my Zero was dancing under a barrage of slugs fired by a trio of GINNs. The ordinance was coming too close for comfort, but my bird was still unscathed. My lips stretched into a feral smile, one of the coordinators was arrogant. He was concentrating on shooting at me and was not paying enough attention on maneuvering, making him an easy target. The fool listed into the cross hairs of two of my gunbarrels, and I pulled the triggers. The pilot attempted to evade at the last second, however he was not fast enough as the HEAT rounds smashed into his machine. One line of tracers chewed up the mech's right hand which grasped its heavy machine gun, and the weapon's magazine cooked off spectacularly, taking the entire appendage up to the shoulder with it. However that was no longer a concern for the pilot. The second gunbarrel's munitions pierced the torso of the machine and exploded within, shredding the Coordinator in the process. Though the MS itself did not suffer cascading failures and simply started drifting out of control rather then rewarding me with a satisfying explosion.

The destruction of the GINN alerted his comrades, whom surged towards me with furious intent, which was good. Angry people make mistakes, which they did. In their passionate attempt to avenge their wing mate, they charged at me with little regard for their surroundings. Their attack lasted mere seconds before they were nailed by a wing of EA MA's which had moved to intercept them.

I cheekily thanked the squadron leader with a toothy grin and whipped my machine in towards the next nearest signs of combat, intent on continuing my hunt.

**=GSI=**

...Well, that was weird. I rubbed my temples in a futile attempt to clear the headache. Part of me was bewildered, considering my apparent situation I should be freaking out. Or be a giddy like a school boy whom just had his greatest wish fulfilled, but I was mostly numb. My emotions were distant echoes, which should have felt wrong.

The insistent beeping had increased in volume during my vision- or was it a flashback? I winced when the volume of the infernal machine increased as if in frustration at being ignored. After patting the various pockets in the front of my uniform I retrieved a small tablet which seemed to be the source of the racket. The screen was blazing in pink, of all things, with flashing white text. "Press me! Now!" I did so. I did so out of curiousity and hope for an explaination on what exactly was going on here.

"Dear Delkatar,

I hope you like the changes to your body. You are on route to Heliopolis and will be docking with the colony in a few minutes."

Oh joy. Probably in the middle of the ZAFT attack from episode one.

_"Do not worry, you have approximately one hour before the attack occurs. Just enough time to reach the Morgenroete facility where the experimental Gundams are waiting for their pilots. It is imperative that you reach your unit immediately. As it is, no one will believe you if you try to warn the idiots running the show there about the imminent attack, not that there is much that they could do even if they heed your words. In what some people on your world refer to as 'Gundamjacking' you'll have to retrieve your machine in the midst of an attack. This is unfortunately the best I could do given the constraints under which I am forced to operate. On the bright side if you are lucky and good enough with your new machine you'll have a slight chance of saving Heliopolis, but I digress."_

No pressure. No sir. Save a colony during an all out MS battle with G-Weapons to boot, not to mention Le Creuset, the Bastard himself.

I don't know how to pilot Mobile Suits damn it, and even if I did what are the odds that I'll be able to survive against elite Coordinators!?  
_  
"Now, please refrain from panicking. You have several factors working in your favor. You have the skills and some of the memories of an Alliance ace pilot; Delkatar Veil, whom you might not remember. I am not sure how much of the information was transferred to you, but in this world you are Delkatar Veil, the second survivor from Moebius Zero squadron, whom until recently was believed dead. In fact, the man you are now did die, or at least his brain did before my intervention. ONI attempted to save one of the Navy's aces by using procedures similar to those which create the Atlantic Federation's Human CPU's. On the bright side, you recieved most of their enhancements but yes, you assumed correctly, you will require regular doses of medication."_

Fuck. It's official, she's a BROB. You have no idea how hearing that I am one of those poor, drug addicted bastards made me feel. I idly floated over my seat and trembling with despair and rage.  
_  
"I am truly sorry for what I had to do to you, Delkatar. I loathe what was done to those poor boys and girls by those butchers from the Federation, however I find myself in a position in which abiding by my principles is simply not possible any more. I did so in the past and the Earth paid with its destruction. I hope I won't have to use this leverage against you and that you'll do the right thing. I know you Delkatar. You despise those from Blue Cosmos and the men like Patrick Zala within the PLANT's. I hope you will willingly take this opportunity and help me prevent this catastrophe before it is too late."_

It's true, you know. There was nothing more effective at focusing your mind than the prospect of an imminent, slow and agonizing death. So, I either play ball, or she'll cut off my supply of medicine. Lucky me. At least what she wants is something I wouldn't be opposed to aiding in if I am goint to be stuck in this world permanently. Let's be fair, my, and everyone else's, chances of survival would be much greater if the genocidal maniacs on both sides are dealt with as soon as possible.

...On the other hand I was about to be thrust into a war which was not mine. I shuddered remembering what happened to the poor bastards like me when their meds ran out. For a moment my numbness was gone and I felt terror like no other. I might die in combat, hell I might not even make it in one piece to the Morgenroete facility, however dying... Well that's easy. There were much worse things after all. I was well aware of what was left unsaid by my new ROB lady 'friend.' With her powers just letting me die in agony was probably one of the milder things she could do to me if I did not follow her instructions.  
_  
"Now that's just mean! I am not some crazy sadist! I'm desperate, it's just insurance, all right?! Besides, do you think me dumb enough to let a Human CPU run free without a way to stop him cold if needed!? What if you went on a crazy killing spree or something?!"_

So, my ROB might not be a total bitch. Just mental... Just great... Wait a minute, why would she need the medicines as a deterrent for me doing something dumb? They'll work in order to force me in following her instructions but in case I went insane thanks to whatever was done to me that won't work as a deterrent... Unless since I am now in the Gundam SEED world and her powers here are restricted, she'll not be able to just off me if I lost it. Which made a twisted kind of sense. Why send me here to clean up this mess if she could just off the leadership of Blue Cosmos and the biggest bastards in ZAFT directly?  
_  
"Ah, I see you got it. As I said I am restricted in what I can do here. That's why I brought you, your mind was ideal for both the dimensional transfer and the CPU enhancements. There is a reasonable chance that you won't go insane."_

Lucky me...  
_  
"Now back to more important things; you have enough meds to keep you in tip top shape for two months. Considering that you have not been brainwashed by the side effects of the procedure and chemicals used for it, you will be able to survive on some standard issue medications found in every EA ship's med bay, for short periods of time, at least. I'll be replenishing your meds periodically, provided you do your best to clean up the mess which is the Cosmic Era. Look on the bright side, I might be able to arrange a better machine for you. Eventually. If you live long enough. God speed and good luck. Oh, and one more thing; please try keeping Kira in one piece. With his attitude he could easily get himself killed. This is not a TV show but the real world after all, so no plot armor for him, or you, for that matter!_

_Regards, your favorite ROB!_

After I finished reading the message I felt like smashing my head repeatedly on the nearest flat surface. At least my ROB wasn't going out of her way to troll me like some I've read about. If she wasn't lying through her teeth, that is.

Sooo... Now I'm a bloody Earth Alliance lieutenant. A cybernetically enhanced one to boot. One that would be expected to slaughter Coordinators with manic smile on his face.

Joy.

A new beeping interrupted my train of thought, this time it came from my wrist where a nice looking watch's alarm had gone off. Over the listed time, which was 14:46, was a single word, flashing in red. 'Pills.' Time to man up and drink the god damned witch's brew that would keep me from thrashing on the ground and screaming in inhuman agony. Just as I finished that thought I froze in place as I realized something. I had no idea where the bloody medicine was...


	2. Chapter 1

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.****

****AN: This part was betaed by BakaSmurf on the Space Battle's forums! Thank you for the great work!****

****Phase 01: War Drums****

**=GSI**

* * *

**14:53 PM**  
**Orb Colony Heliopolis**  
**-**

There I was, gazing upon the interior of a space colony. The construction was an incredible engineering achievement. Even more stunning was the fact that the place felt normal, almost like being back on Earth. The gravity seemed right, at least after the time my body has spent traveling in micro gravity in order to reach this destination. The air was clean and fresh, a pleasant surprise after the years spent living in a city back home.

For a couple of minutes I just stood at the exit of the spaceport's terminal and took in the sights. While intellectually I knew that on this colony Coordinators and Naturals lived side by side, something that would have appalled many EA soldiers, the people who were milling around going on their own business looked normal. The only strange thing about the inhabitants was the fashion which looked a bit out of place to my sensibilities. But that was all. It was relieving to know that I had not suddenly turned into a semblance of a Blue Cosmos imbecile thanks to the memories of the man whose body I was inhabiting. Considering the uncanny resemblance between us, there were two possibilities – either my ROB has been creative, this was a weird quirk of genetics, or the man was a descendant of my counterpart who had lived in this universe. Not that it mattered much here and now. I had much more important things on my mind. My thoughts wandered for a bit.

**=GSI=**

* * *

I was fortunate enough to find my medicine stashed in a backpack, secured under the seat in which I awoke. It was secured between spare uniforms, socks and underwear as well as various small items you'd need on a long deployment. I scanned the prescription which was etched on the plastic, cylindrical containers in which the pills were located and took the necessary amount. I could not remember how much drugs the CPU's in the anime needed daily, but for me it was two different pills twice a day. At least there was no need for injections. I squared my baggage and started thinking. I'll have at best forty minutes to find the Morgenroete facility and board a Gundam after the shuttle lands. If I disregarded the ROB's warning and tried to sound the alarm, the most likely outcome was me ending in the hands of Counter intelligence folks who would have some pointed questions. Telling them that I saw what was about to happen in anime, while being in another dimension won't fly. However, if by some fluke they believed that what I was saying to them was true, I was most likely to end making company with the three poor bastards who were Azrael's pets in the series. With full care for little old me – torture, brainwashing, erasing of memories and guaranteed withholding of medicine when the Blue Cosmos bastard felt like it. That's it after they pump me dry for anything I remembered.

However the main reason why I decided not to try sounding the alarm was simple. Thanks to my new memories I was aware what were the forces stationed on this colony. Not enough to stop the Le Creuset's unit, but if they fought hard enough or even if they launched and showed that they are ready for an attack, the masked prick might decide to blow up the colony in order to deny the Alliance access to the G-weapons. Probably before I would be able to reach the facility. Not to mention that the residents would need some time to reach the shelters...

My best bet to change the outcome of the battle was to reach the Gundams before the ZAFT MS's attacked and launch to intercept them. If I was lucky I might be able to not only save the colony but save some of the forces stationed on Heliopolis. While by themselves they won't be a deciding factor, with Gundam support they could change the game. Not to mention that if I am the first to activate one of the machines I might be able to prevent ZAFT from getting their hands on their own, but if I wanted to do so was another question to which I had no answer yet...

The pilot's voice, a young ensign if memory served, cracked over speakers installed throughout the passenger compartment.

"Sir, please return to your seat and strap in. We'll be docking with Heliopolis shortly."

I headed to my seat and did as instructed. I had no intention of experiencing how bouncing around the compartment felt.

**=GSI=**

* * *

Thanks to my clearance, which was amongst the highest available on this colony due to my status as a Gundam pilot, I was hastily rushed through customs. Therefore I ended here, gazing upon the peaceful colony. Something that would change soon if Athrun and his commandos were already aboard.

For a moment I stood still, reveling in the peace and quiet, something I felt would be lacking for a long time.

Then, I headed to a nearby street, where empty electric cars, which were one of the modes of public transport on Heliopolis, were slowly passing by, moving to the designated stops where they waited for someone to board them. I headed to the nearest vehicle, which was resembling a modern looking sports car. It was sweet looking, silver colored machine. I threw my luggage to the passenger seat and sat behind the wheel. I used my identification to override the on-board computer, placed the tablet with which I had awoken near the radio and activated its auto-map function, which acted as heavily upgraded GPS system. I checked the best route leading to the Morgenroete facility and pressed the gas pedal. With the standard safeties disengaged, the car roared to life and accelerated to hundred kilometers per hour in seconds. I was both exhilarated by the speed and a bit scared. It was a long time since I pulled such a stunt.

Well, it was time to see if my new piloting abilities extended to driving cars...

**=GSI=**

* * *

The good news was that indeed, now I had the skills to be rather good racer. Though to be fair, the fact that the traffic was light helped a lot. Naturally there was a bad news too. On my way I passed by a car in which Kira and two of his friends were traveling towards Morgenroete. If I remembered the anime correctly (and if that information was correct here in the real world) that meant that I have precious few minutes before the attack started. Hell, the ZAFT commandos were probably already in the facility or damn close to it!

By my estimate, and if the ROB told me the truth, I should have at least fifteen to twenty more minutes before all hell broke loose. I grumbled quietly. That however was not something I could change so I accelerated even further, pressing the car to its limits. According to my map, I was almost up to the gates.

I finally reached the entrance, where the car stopped with the screech of overstressed brakes and leaving twin, black trails of melted rubber behind. I hastily passed my identification through a panel on the wall that was placed for that purpose and stared at the camera which was build in. Apparently whoever was handling security decided that I am who I was supposed to be. A green light blinked on on the panel and the barrier which was across the entrance started coming down in its housing in the ground. I smiled with relief and entered. I could see in the rear mirror Kira and company approaching.

**=GSI=**

* * *

I parked near the main doors leading into the heart of the Morgenroete facility, which was built in the side of an artificial hill. Under different circumstances my mind would have been frozen in awe for few moments but I just noted the sight, grabbed my backpack and headed at the coordinates highlighted on my tablet. It was not the first time I pondered about my unnatural calm, wondering if my situation was because of my augmentation or thanks to the drugs I had to ingest. That, amongst many others, was just another concern for later. If there was a later. Barring a miracle the station would be engulfed in battle within minutes.

The halls of Morgenroete were unexpectedly deserted as I moved deeper into the facility, drawn as a moth is to a flame by the coordinates where my machine was supposed to be. I wondered which of the G-Weapons ROB had decided to let me pilot. Soon a frown appeared on my face. I was going deep within the base, far deeper that I thought any of the machines were located, especially when you take in account that they were ready to receive their pilots and be moved to the Archangel for transport to Earth. I wondered what surprise ROB had in store for me.

I continued moving deeper and deeper in the facility. The damn identical corridors and the need to stop, present my identification to a computer terminal and wait for a door to open were nerve-wracking. I did not have time for this bullshit, damn it!

**=GSI=**

* * *

When I finally reached the last door, before my destination, at least according to the tablet, I sighed in relief. With a motion, I practiced dozens of times in the last fifteen minutes or so, I passed my identification through the security terminal near the door. It buzzed for a moment and blinked green. I smiled and pushed the door open to reveal a large, dark expanse. Underground hangar most likely. I took a step forward when the ground under my legs shook. Fuck it all! I was out of time!

I stumbled forward just as alarms started blaring throughout the building. A cool female voice, undoubtedly a recording, started ordering all personal to evacuate to the nearest shelters. I ignored it and made my way forward. I think the hangar had motion sensors within as I had not made it a meter away from the entrance when powerful lights snapped on one after another, illuminating the dark hangar. First thing I saw were trucks with open trailers loaded with various sealed containers. There were seven of the machines. On the walls I could see various cranes and other heavy equipment. My sight soon fell on the prize. It was standing tall at the far end of the hangar, made of what looked like a dull gray metal, un-powered phase shift armor, my new-found training added context to what I was seeing. Despite the tremors shaking the Morgenroete facility I smiled. To my eyes, the Mobile Suit- the Gundam, looked stunning.

* * *

-  
**15:41 PM  
Orb Colony Heliopolis**

Standing by the ankles of an eighteen meters tall war machine was humbling. The Gundam looked like a cross between the Aegis and Blitz. It had the sleek, predatory appearance of the stealth MS, yet retained the odd angles and shapes of the ride that Athrun used before upgrading to the Justice. Bloody beautiful!

A series of explosions rumbled and shook the building, snapping me out of my drooling over the MS. I looked around and noticed an elevator platform which was perfectly situated to bring me up to the cockpit. I quickly boarded it and pressed the ascent button. I could not wait for the elevator to raise up. Preferably before the commandos or the GINNs which were rampaging inside the colony brought the building down around me.

"Damn it!" I shouted when three more explosions rocked the facility.

Those were relatively close and internal if the sound echoing around the hangar and pounding my ears was anything to go by. The platform shook enough to almost throw me off. That would have been bad – it had already ascended about ten meters in the air. Something fell in the other end of the hangar causing a head splitting racket which was murder on my ears. I winced as the echoes of metal clanking on the ground and the sound of explosions mixed nearly deafening me. Who would have thought that a bloody hangar would have such good acoustics?

Finally the elevator stopped in front of the chest of the MS. I looked over the gray painted armor for the manual switch that should open the cockpit. I found it hidden between two armor plates. The bloody thing was secured all too good. I pulled with all my might and almost overbalanced and fell to my death trying to pry open the protective cover over the control. That would have been an embarrassing way to die... At least now I had access to the manual release. I pulled it and with a soft hiss of awakened hydraulics the front of the MS chest slid open, revealing the dark cockpit.

With a small smile I threw my backpack on the barely visible seat inside and scrambled to enter. Once inside I secured my luggage into a compartment in the back of the cockpit, conveniently provided for just such purpose and sat in front of the controls. For few seconds I just watched at the dark displays trying to convince myself that I really was in the cockpit of a Gundam!

The first thing that stood out was that it looked familiar, but not from the anime that I had watched a long time ago. No, it was from half forgotten memories. I could almost see myself entering a simulator that was a mirror image of the real thing. My fingers moved of their own volition all over the controls. The dark displays lit one after another as the Mobile Suit came to life. The front of the cockpit slid backwards, sealing me in a protective, armored cocoon.

The flat screen placed between the controls in front of me showed the messages I expected as the OS initialized. The OMNI enforcer logo flashed for a second before the name and version of the OS was displayed proudly. You'd expect that something that is version 099 would be in somewhat operational order. I hoped that my ROB was feeling generous and it was optimized for baseline human use. I knew that I was not up to the task of reprogramming it at all, much less in the middle of a battlefield.

The images on the screen changed showing the designation of the suit – GAT-X311 Dragon. Nice name.

Another flash and the power readings of the Gundam appeared in front of my eyes. To my satisfaction the batteries were full. Next on the list were weapons. I hoped that it had come pre-loaded with something more than the two glorified mail openers that the Strike had by default. I scrolled down the weapons menu and soon grinned like a madman.

2x"Igelstellung" 75mm Multi-barrel CIWS – nice to have but not particularly useful against MS.

Next was a fully charged beam saber. Yupee! I was apparently lucky, or my ROB was not as much of a bastard as the ones that were tormenting a few other people on Spacebattles! However that was not what caused me to feel utter glee.

2x 50mm Beam Dragoon Pods with couple of attached "Lancer Darts" each. That was something I just knew I was familiar with and could use to a good effect. At that moment I could have kissed the ROB who sent me here.

Then my mouth watered.

2x "Scylla" 200 mm Multi-Phase Energy cannons. Bloody hell, that was scaled down version of the main gun of the Aegis which was one of the most powerful weapons mounted on any MS in this universe!

My glee was short lived. I had the sinking suspicion that all that firepower was not here to make my life easier, but to just give me a reasonable chance of survival. Not good for my continuous survival but I digress. I had more immediate problems right now. Like Le Creuset, the best space commander ZAFT had at this time and his hand-picked team rampaging in and around Heliopolis.

A small part of me wanted to just run away and hide in some nice, dark hole and avoid the madness that this war was. However that thought was pushed to the back of my mind as fast as it emerged. I shook my head. I had a mission to accomplish.

I did not know it at the time but my personality was changing, merging with the fragments left from the EA ace whose body I was inhabiting. That was one of the main reasons I felt too calm and detached at that moment, but that was not something I found out for sure until near the end of the war. But that is a story for another time.

I concentrated on the controls and tried to relax my stiff body. I let the training I had inherited take over and gently moved forward. With a screech of tortured metal the lift platform which let me get into the cockpit crumbled away when the MS took a step forward. The Gundam stumbled and only a hasty pull back on the throttle level, which in turn almost made the Dragon fall back, was all that prevented my brand new ride from taking a nosedive.

"Bloody hell!" I cursed quietly. The controls were too sensitive.

I carefully tested the range of motions on the arms and legs. The OS was making the controls overly sensitive, but they were not quite precise enough. This thing in its current configuration resembled a damned deathtrap!

That thought reminded me that thanks to the Phase Shift armor, as long as the Gundam had energy, it was rather well protected. I winced and my right arm snaked towards the nice big button which activated said armor. I would have been sliced into small pieces if I went out without this defense active. Something I forgot to do. I had to get my head straight if I wanted at least a small chance to survive the day.

My tablet choose that moment to start beeping and startled me. My right hand twitched on the controls and the Dragon fell forward. My arms moved frantically over the controls. The mobile suit reacted immediately to my ministrations. Its arms shot forward to break off its fall. The Dragon few on hands and knees, crushing the frame of one of the trucks which I suspected were loaded with additional weapons and equipment for my machine. I hoped that there was nothing too important or fragile in the container that was in the truck back. The protective cover of the cargo had a giant hand shaped indentation.

With a quiet curse I retrieved the tabled from the pocket in my uniform where I had it stashed. "You have 1 new message." With a frown I pressed the Mail icon. As far as I knew no one but the ROB was about to write to me at time such as this. Or was it from an acquaintance of Delkatar Veil, the man whom I for all intents and purposes was possessing?

"Hi there! I hope you like your new Gundam! I knew you'll have fun with it!

A bit of free advice – as soon as you get out of the hangar transform in the Mobile Armor configuration. It's similar enough to the old Zero you know how to handle. Good luck!"

ROB all right. Couldn't she have sent that information earlier?! And what MA configuration? Was this machine a transforming model just like the Aegis? Huh. I guess that the similar outer appearance is not a coincidence then. This at least will somehow negate the fact that at the moment the Dragon was unusable by me as a combat Mobile Suit.

The X311 stood up under my careful, calculated movements and headed toward the hangar doors. They were to my right and I did not notice them when I entered the hangar on foot. Well, I was too busy gawking at all the nice tech lying around in fairness. Not to mention the eighteen meters of conspicuous MS hidden in the back.

I saw no way to open the massive doors blocking the exit. Blowing them up with something was not a good idea – the blast wave could damage the rest of the trucks and make it even harder to move the equipment that my suit will undoubtedly need in the future. Considering the skills the opponents I was about to face I did not believe that my machine would make it in one piece, so this was stuff that I needed on board of Archangel.

Very carefully, the Dragon retrieved its beam saber and ignited it. It was time to see how much of a mess the ZAFT had made outside.

**=GSI=**

* * *

The saber made short work of the doors. The beam utterly ignored the metal and cut through it as if it were a fast moving red hot knife through butter. The Dragon's left fist sped forward and with a loud clang pushed away the cut of segment of the doors. I made my way out fast, looking frantically for enemies. The high powered sensors situated in the head of my Gundam pinged the surrounding area. The first thing that was highlighted was the kneeling form of another Gundam, which was identified as the Strike a second later thanks to the Dragon's IFF system. Then there were the few still operational trucks which had passive beacons showing them as property of the G-Weapon project.

For the moment there were no enemy MS in the colony, at least ones close enough to be detected. The effective range of my sensors was cut short in the urban environment of Heliopolis. I idly noted that there were couple of teens near the cockpit of the Strike. Nearby on a bench I saw a brown-haired woman in orange work clothes identical to what the few Morgenroete personnel I saw earlier were wearing. Next to here was a young girl who was dressed in a lighter orange dress and Kira Yamato, whom, just as everyone else was looking in my direction with huge eyes.

They were right to be worried. If I was a run of the mill ZAFT pilot they were likely to be collateral damage as the helpless Strike was blown to pieces.

The woman in engineer's work clothes had a gun in her left hand and she was glaring my way. Ah, this should be lieutenant Ramius. I grinned when something unexpected occurred to me. After Mu La Flaga I was probably the next most senior EA officer left on the station. If I remembered it correctly, Ramius was an engineer with no combat experience yet. A mischievous part of me wanted to have a bit of fun with her while another was pissed off at the other lieutenant who was in the process of threatening the civilians with her weapon. Well, at least I knew that she would turn to be one of the best ship captains of the war. The woman had great potential.

I flicked on the external speakers on my machine.

"Identify yourselves." My voice boomed over the speakers.

Ramius snarled in my direction. She probably thought that I was a ZAFT commando who wanted to have a bit of fun before murdering them.

"Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, Earth Alliance navy." she spat.

Her shoulder's slumped and she lowered her weapon. Murrue glanced at the kids and looked at my MS.

"They're just bunch of civilians. Please let them go."

I smiled. It was good to see that she really had her heart in the right place.

"I am not in the habit of murdering civilians, much less a bunch of kids, Lieutenant Ramius. I am Lieutenant Delkatar Veil, attached as a pilot to the G-Weapons project. Do you folks throw such parties here regularly, or is this a special reception to celebrate my arrival?" I quipped.

Her eyes became huge when she heard my name. I had an uncomfortable premonition that the man whose body I was stuck in was a bloody celebrity in the Alliance military. Oh, yeah. I was supposed to be the only other survivor from the legendary Moebius Zero squadron, almost as famous as Mu La Flaga. Lucky me.

"And, yes the rumors about my demise are grossly exaggerated. Obviously. So, Lieutenant Ramius, what is our situation? All I know is that someone tried to blew up Morgenroete with me inside. Though, judging by the wreckage of what I have a sneaking suspicion may have belonged to a GINN, I could make an educated guess."

"ZAFT attacked Heliopolis and got away with four of the mobile weapons. I've lost contact with all EA forces."

"It's never easy, is it?" I muttered. "Lieutenant Ramius, there is a bunch of equipment for my suit in the hangar behind me. We should secure it along with anything useful for that machine." I had the Dragon crudely gesture towards its kneeling brother. "Strike, is it? The one designed with modular weapon packs for different roles? We should gather whatever is left of its toys too. What do you intend to do with the kids, ma'am?"

While I was reluctant to do it, right now we needed the teen's help. And Kira's expertise was vital even if this time around he did not immediately end as a Gundam pilot. Until we reached Earth it was unlikely that we'll meet someone who could reprogram the bloody OS and let me use the full capabilities of the X311. Besides, despite his flaws, Kira had the potential to become one of the greatest pilots of this age.

"That's the plan." Murrue said in calmer tone. I could see the relief on her face and those of the kids when they heard that I was friendly. "However, they've seen too much. I can't just let them go!"

I shook my head. Now, if it was because she needed their help right now, I could understand it. But as a matter of secrecy?! After ZAFT got four of the G-Weapons?! That was senseless. Oh, yeah. Military regulations. All to often they did not make sense to anyone who is not a REMF far behind the front lines. At least that's what my new memories told me.

"I see you have things over here under control. I'll try to re-establish contact with any surviving Earth Alliance forces and go scout the docks. I hope that the Archangel is still in one piece. It is our ride out of here after all."

The true reason I was going was that I hoped that La Flaga and Le Creuset were still battling outside the station. If that was the case I might be able to help my old friend to deal with the bastard and after that intercept any more MS attacking the colony. That was the plan, though I was aware that it would most likely fly apart the moment I made contact with the enemy forces. The alternative was to wait here and let the events unfold as in the anime. Something I just could not do. On my cameras I could see people still running towards shelters. A lot of them were women with kids. Damn it, by now they should have been somewhere safe!

**=GSI=**

* * *

Entering MA configuration turned out to be unexpectedly easy. I just needed to use the vernier to gains some altitude before hitting the switch which was on the right side of the control panel. It was sensibly placed where the pilot could not activate it by accident.

I was briefly disoriented as the Dragon twisted madly and shuddered as it changed form. Later, after I saw footage of my machine in action in its armor mode, I was pleased to note that it looked like a deadly predator. It was sleek, aerodynamic and with general shape and curves which made it look astounding. Granted its aesthetics did not have much to do with the way it handled in combat but I was glad that the X311 looked great in both its configurations. Plus it had a hover mode, which was an improvement over the Moebius armor I was familiar with.

I slowly hovered away from Ramius and the kids. She asked one of the boy's whose name I could not remember from the anime to bring one of the surviving trailers to them. Probably weapons and spare batteries for the Strike. For the next few minutes that was Murrue's show.

When I was at what I thought to be a safe distance, I pushed up the throttle and was slammed back in my seat as the Dragon accelerated madly upwards, toward the central cylinder, which was acting as a backbone for the station.

"This is Lieutenant Delkatar Veil to all alliance forces in this AO. Please respond. " I tried to contact any friendlies in the area. However only static answered me. Not good. Not unexpected either, unfortunately.

I was flying and looking for the docks when an orange ball of fire blew from the central spine in front of me. I banked to the left, thankful that in MA configuration the Dragon was performing similar enough to a Zero for me to be comfortable piloting it. The only issue was that it was a bit sluggish in maneuvering but that was not surprising - the MA mode was build for speed attack runs.

The X311 was agile enough for me to move it out of the way of the explosion. That was the good news. The bad news is that my adventure almost ended when a white MS exploded from the dying fireball, heading straight my way. I desperately pulled up while the ZAFT pilot frantically dived down. Our machines passed by each other by a mere half meter.

It took me few precious seconds to realize that I almost kamikazed La Creuset! Not taking him out by ramming the bastard was something that I would live to regret.

The next thing I knew was the sound of machine gun bullets hitting the Dragon. The masked wonder was on my tail and he meant business!

* * *

**-  
15:49 PM  
Orb colony Heliopolis  
-**

Am I lucky or what? I've been flying in my newly acquired Dragon for no more than a minute before running into everyone's favorite masked maniac. To make matters worse, I just missed probably the best chance I'll get at ending the bastard. With the Phase armor active I had relatively good chances to survive a mid air collision intact. However the training and reflexes which I now had took over, I avoided the collision and that's how I ended in my current predicament - Le Creuset was flying behind me and using me for target practice.

The Dragon was still in one piece thanks to the Phase shift armor which was laughing at the projectiles impacting it. While that was great, every hit was draining a bit of my power reserves and the X311 was not nuclear powered. The battery, no mater how advanced would not last long under such onslaught.

I gritted my teeth and banked right, heading for the colony's central spine. I counted on my belief that La Creuset's machine, in its current configuration was not armed heavily enough to cause too much damage to the reinforced structure. I could hear the roar of the engines even though the cockpit was supposed to be sound proof, when I sent my MA in a spiral around the main support pillar of Heliopolis. The white MS followed suit, keeping easily with my wild maneuvers.

Ordinance splashed over my armor with even more of it missing and blowing holes in the reinforced metal of the colony's spine. The X311 spun left, barely missing a small tower which was sticking from the structure around which I was weaving in desperate evasion patterns. The shock-wave from my pass probably wounded everyone inside. The windows shattered pelting whoever was unlucky enough to be in the small building with razor sharp shards. However all that become irrelevant for the occupant's of the tower second later when a burst of Le Creuset's weapons connected with it and the HEAT rounds blew it up.

That fucking bastard just did not care who he killed! And right now I could not do much more than run and buy as much time as possible for the civilians to get in the damn shelters. In this confined environment my Dragon, at least in its MA configuration was at a severe disadvantage. I could not use it's speed to good effect in here, not to mention that when in this form the X311 was simply not maneuverable enough to compete with Rau's custom machine!

One of the computers in my cockpit screamed in warning as a new contact was detected. I grinned wolfishly and the Dragon shot out propelled by its powerful engines, away from the central spine. The white MS followed, its machine gun and arm mounted Gatling cannon blazing after me.

Moments later Le Creuset broke his pursuit. He was forced to evade shots from an orange Moebius Zero's linear cannon. The X311 spun around in as tight a turn as I could manage given my high speed. That gave me a great view of the short lived duel between the two aces. The ZAFT commander evaded the shots of La Flaga in a way that made it look ridiculously easy. The white MS weaved around the shells going his way, moving like a lethal dancer.

Their two machines closed the distance between them in a matter of moments all the while their weapons were blazing at each other, yet neither managed to score something more than a glancing hits, which were easily defeated by their armor plating. It was over in a blink of an eye. Le Creuset had cut in half the barrel of the linear cannon which was mounted under the nose of the Zero, disabling the operational weapon that La Flaga had. All that happened before my MA could complete its turn and I could took aim at the white MS.

I started cursing quietly. With Mu virtually out of the engagement that left me alone against the masked man. For a first time since I arrived I was thankful to whatever was numbing my feelings, because right now that meant that the mind freezing terror that was spreading through me had barely any effect on my performance.

The Dragon moved its nose towards the white mobile suit. For a second a positive lock flashed on my targeting computer and I clamped my right thumb on the trigger for the Dragoon pods. I was not crazy enough to use the "Scylla" cannons within Heliopolis. Those monsters were perfectly capable of wrecking the colony by themselves.

The first two beams missed, blowing a tree covered hill in the distance. The second salvo grazed the small, triangular shield, covering the outside of the white MS's left hand and the Gatling gun it was holding. To my satisfaction, the rotatory cannon was damaged enough for its ammo to cook off and it exploded spectacularly. Even better, the detonation took out the left hand of Le Creuset's machine.

I howled with joy at the sight! I actually hit the bastard!

My exuberance was short-lived. The crazy bastard acted as if his machine was not maimed and used its unimpeded maneuverability to move away from the cone of my forward mounted weapons. He proceeded to unload the magazine of his machine gun at my MA, which blasted by him.

The X311 was rattled under the barrage. The harness keeping me from bouncing all around the cockpit, cut painfully into my shoulders as I struggled to retain control under the onslaught. Then, suddenly the attack stopped. Probably the gun running dry.

I sped away from Le Creuset. I used the sleeve of my left hand to brush out the drops of cold sweat that had appeared on my forehead during the battle. I though about the performance of the Dragon's MA configuration. Its maneuverability was below that of a Moebuis. However it was much faster machine. So speed attack runs. While the inside of the colony was far from ideal for such tactics, that was my only chance. Besides, this way I was able to hit Le Creuset while the bastard was distracted by Mu.

I headed back to the area where the remains of the Morgenroete facility were smoking and glared at the white MS. It was flying straight at the Strike and the kids who I could see hunkering down behind the trailer it was protecting. I snapped few shots in his direction, in a futile hope to discourage him from his attack run. However we were at such angle that if I aimed too close to the cunning bastard I risked harming the civilians. They and Kira's Gundam were between me and Le Creuset. Simply put, the beams of the Dragoons were too powerful to use near civilians who were outside of an armored vehicle or hard cover. The fact that the Strike was between them and the target area probably was not enough to protect them.

As the distance between the three of us shrunk I grimaced in my seat gripped by indecision. I was in a position in which I dared not use my damned overwhelming firepower. I am sure that there was a ROB somewhere that was watching the show and laughing its ass off while munching popcorn or whatever passes as such for a being like the one whom sent me here.

With a resigned sigh I pushed my MA's engines to their limits in atmosphere and pointed the X311 straight at Le Creuset, who was moving left and right to present a harder target.

* * *

**15:53 PM**  
**Orb colony Heliopolis**  
**-**

My suicide run was interrupted by a massive explosion, which shattered the ground between the Dragon and Le Creuset's MS. Chunks of smoking rock and half melted metal flew in all directions, and the shock wave threw us both off course. I hoped that the civilians were all right.

Fortunately the brunt of the pressure wave was headed away from the Strike and the kids it was protecting. Even better, while I fought to stabilize my MS I watched with satisfaction as the Archangel emerged from the smoke, moving out from the makeshift exit she had made for herself. What put a smile on my face was the sight of Le Creuset's machine scrapping the side of the left "leg" of the brand new carrier and bouncing off it after wrecking its own left leg.

The captain of the ship wasted no time and peppered the white MS, which was hastily retreating, with CIWS batteries and soon launched four missiles after the bastard. The X311 spun in a tight turn and flew in pursuit. I probably will never get another chance to end the bastard as good as this one.

He headed to the central spine of the station, flying backwards and shooting at the missiles. He downed the closest two before a lucky shot from one of my weapon's pods took out the right hand of his suit up to the elbow. He danced away from my next attacks, twisting in what should have been impossible maneuvers. My beams were missing his machine by centimeters, passing close enough to scorch the white paint of his Mobile suit.

The third missile was barely a few meters away from Le Creuset, when the lucky maniac reached the spine and ducked behind it. The remaining ordinance was not agile enough to follow him and slammed in the structure that was preventing Heliopolis from being shattered by its own rotation. It was fortunate enough that the abused spine was able to tank the two hits and survive.

My vision was briefly disrupted when I flew through the flames and smoke caused by the missile hit. The Dragon shook as burning debris rained all over it.

Then I was past the twin fireballs and was frantically looking for the ZAFT machine. There was no sight of the bastards on either the sensors or the cameras. I headed into the hollow of the spine from where I hoped to proceed out to space and hunt down Le Creuset before he could return to his ships or call reinforcements. I just knew that if he got away he'd be a giant pain in the ass. Not to mention the most likely source of my demise, with the EA brass and the Blue Cosmos imbeciles which controlled them like puppets as close seconds.

I decided the newly made hole, thanks to the Archangel's missiles would be my best bet and turned the X311 in that direction. I was nearing the still, burning and smoking segment of the spine when my radio cracked. Apparently after Le Creuset left the jamming was lifted.

"This is Lieutenant Mu La Flaga calling the G-Weapon pilot. Respond!"

Well, bollocks. Instinctively I snapped to attention in my seat. Obviously the Hawk had trained his subordinates too well, and some of that carried over from my host body and the few memories of the man I possessed. Needless to say, La Flaga was one of the last people in this universe I wanted to speak with considering the circumstances. I probably should abuse the amnesia part for all its worth. That at least was even accepted as a fact by the Alliance brass who were just peachy because it had apparently not affected my piloting abilities too much, and since when did I start thinking of myself as the pilot in whose body I was stuck, damn it?!

**=GSI=**

* * *

When he followed Le Creuset in the bowels of Heliopolis, Mu La Flaga had no illusions about his chances. Not after his gun-barrels were blown up by his rival. He had only his linear cannon left, while the MS of the ZAFT ace, had a ZGMF-515 CGUE. If the intel weenies were correct for once, that was one of the models ZAFT were testing as a successor of their aging GINN MS frame. It was a high performance weapon, which was much more agile than his banged up Zero. However, Mu could not let the enemy commander free reign inside the colony. So he charged after the Coordinator in a desperate gambit to damage his MS enough to force a retreat. That way he might be able to save something from this debacle.

Once La Flaga was inside Heliopolis he started searching for his target, briefly glancing at the greatest concentration of destroyed and smoking buildings, where the Morgenroete facility should be. He noted a MS, one of the G-Weapons kneeling next to a heavily loaded trailer. Good. At least one of those things was still out of enemy hands.

Multiple explosions all around the central spine of the colony alerted Mu for the location of Le Creuset. He briefly wondered what the enemy commander was shooting at when he saw a black and silver mobile armor trying to evade the ZAFT Ace. According to his briefing, which he received before being ordered to this place as additional security for the transfer of the weapons, that was one of the prototypes.

It was obvious to La Flaga, that the G-Weapon was not maneuverable enough to deal with Le Creuset. Its pilot was trying his best to avoid the bulk of gunfire and counted on the Phase shift armor to deal with whatever he could not dodge. It was a battle of attrition. A race between the energy reserves of the two machines and whether whatever ammunition the ZGMF-515 CGUE was carrying would be enough to deplete the batteries of the... What was that machine called? The Dragon? Yes, that was it.

With Mu flying to support his fellow Earth Alliance pilot, he saw how the MA banked away from the spine. Le Creuset followed and made a nice, fat target. La Flaga pulled the trigger for his linear cannon and frowned when the white MS evaded his shots, which nevertheless did not deter him from pressing the attack.

What followed was short and brutal maelstrom of snaking war machines and hails of gunfire. He pushed the Moebius up to its limits in desperate maneuvers which only barely kept him alive. The few rounds that connected with his MA hit the armor plating in such angles that they either bounced or just scrapped the hard material.

Then he was out of time and space to maneuver. Le Creuset used the sharp edge of the shield covering the back side of his MS's left hand as a melee weapon which bisected Mu's linear cannon.

Left without any offensive weaponry, La Flaga was left helpless to watch the outcome of the duel between the Dragon and the ZAFT commander. To his astonishment, thanks to a lot of luck and the timely appearance of the Archangel, Le Creuset was beaten back. He noticed that the unknown pilot was about to pursue his masked nemesis, however that was not a good idea. There were three ships out there and from what he saw earlier, Mu knew that at least half of their MS were not yet deployed, not to mention that he was able to notice at least two of the prototypes, obviously captured ones, heading to the ZAFT task force. He had no intention of letting the pilot of the Dragon commit suicide and lose the G-Weapon. So he hailed him and prayed for response. Just in case, he headed in the direction where the other MA went.

"This is Lieutenant Delkatar Veil, from the Earth Alliance. I've been attached as a pilot to the G-Weapon project. It's good to heard your voice again, boss."

Mu La Flaga stared through the canopy of his Zero at the other MA which was slowly making its way towards him. He could not believe his ears. Granted, the voice sounded right, but that was impossible! He had watched that man die!


	3. Chapter 2

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective creator, copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it. ****

**AN: This chapter was edited by ace_of_the_arts on spacebattles forums. Thank you for the effort!**

**Phase 02 : Shattered Dreams  
**

**=GSI=**

**Part 1**

**16:11PM; Orb colony Heliopolis**

I wonder who has bigger problems – fellas picked up by a ROB and dumped in a new world without a back story or someone like me – who gets stuck living another man's life. You see, after the Archangel had blown her way out of the hangar she had been trapped in,and no sooner had she landed in front of the Morgenroete R&amp;D facility than I was ordered to help with loading the surviving G-Weapon equipment. And Only once that was finished was I to report to La Flaga and the ship's commander. I had no doubt that an interesting conversation was waiting for me. In the Chinese sense of the word.

Kira and I used our MS to hasten the loading process before we landed in the starboard hanger of the carrier. I popped the cockpit open and exited the Dragon only to see my greeting committee moving my way. That was a female ensign who had a short black hair and purple striking eyes, followed by a pair of sailors and a few engineers. What was her name? Badriguel or something like that I think. Farther behind her I could see Mu hurrying my way as well. He had stowed his machine in the other hangar so it was no surprise that my fellow pilot was not the first to meet me and start the inquisition.

To make the set full, Lieutenant Ramius, who had been near the Strike, speaking with Kira's cluster of teens headed my way too. That's the moment I thought about a little complication which should have been obvious to me if I had been thinking with a clear head. Thanks to the way ROB decided to insert me in this universe now there were three officers with the same rank on the ship. With no clear chain of command to boot.

I expected a lot of things to happen. What happened was not one of them. The ensign, who was filling her white, red collared, uniform in an eye catching way, marched until she was standing in front of me, glared at me and then tried to hit me. My left arm moved on its own volition before I could comprehend what was happening and slapped her fist away from my face. Her fist brushed the right side of my jawbone.  
I jumped backwards startled by the unprovoked attack and took a combat stance I am sure I was not familiar before ending up at this world. I looked in confusion at the furious woman who was glaring daggers at me. The two sailors behind her had surprised expressions on their faces. Apparently they too had no idea what was going on.

"Ensign! Explain that's enough! Explain yourself!" snapped Ramius in a commanding voice that brooked no argument.

To my amusement, when she heard the tone her superior officer had used, Natarle automatically snapped to attention. Some drill instructor or, considering she was navy, probably a chief petty officer, should be proud.

"Ma'am! I am sorry, ma'am!"

The show cast became full, when a smiling La Flaga reached us. Unexpectedly he gave me the explanation for why Badgiruel tried to slug me.

"Well, Veil, I see that you've reunited with your girlfriend." His voice dripped with amusement. "Though your new rank could put a wrench in your fun... " He trailed off pointing at my lieutenant insignia. "No matter. Whatever problem you two have stow it and deal with it on your own time."

Wait, what?! I looked at Natarle startled. Fuck. Another complication that I did not need. I wondered who will be the next friend of the Delkatar Veil from this universe to come aboard Archangel...

Badgiruel gave me another withering glare.

"I thought you died..." she muttered quietly and gave me a searching look before straightening up, turning around and saluting La Flaga.

"I am Ensign Natarle Badgiruel, Sector Two, Fifth Special Division, sir. This incident won't be repeated, sir!"

My former commander returned the salute and introduced himself. Not that there was anyone in the Alliance military that did not know his name and face – you could see his grinning mug on recruitment and propaganda posters all over the Earth sphere. That thought stopped my thoughts in their tracks. Probably the same was true about me. It sure would explain the strange looks that the military guards at the space ports had given me. Bloody hell, that was the last thing I needed. I winced at the thought.  
Meanwhile, Ramius make her introduction too. She was from the same outfit as my apparent ex flame.

After saluting her, Natarle looked around with a frown which looked almost cute on her face. I knew what her problem was. It was the same reason I was glancing at Mu and Ramius. La Flaga grimaced and rubbed the back of his head.

"Now, Ensign, if you are finished with our revenant Lieutenant Delkatar Veil over here, I want to ask permission to come aboard. May I ask who is in command?"

Natarle lowered her eyes at the soft reprimand she could hear in Mu's voice. She straightened her back and answered.

"I am afraid that I am the only officer on the Archangel, sir. I am sorry to report that the captain and the rest of the officers were greeting the new pilots on the docks when the attack commenced. They did not make it. At least about a dozen of the NCOs survived the attack and managed to board the ship with some of the crew and marines. Therefore I believe that it is Lieutenant Ramius who is in command of this vessel, sir."

"You mean that the captain is..." Ramius was shocked to hear that news.

It looked like the dead of the captain hit her hard.

"Oh, man, what an unmitigated disaster," groaned La Flaga. His shock was short lived and in moments he was serious and back to business.

"In any case, please grant me permission to stay aboard. My ship was destroyed in the initial attack."

"Ah. Sure. Permission granted. What about you, Lieutenant Veil?"

"That's easy, ma'am. I am assigned to the Archangel as a pilot for the Dragon. I hope I too have permission to stay aboard, sir?"

"Permission granted." She glanced at my machine and looked a bit relieved.

I think that having at least one pilot that was supposed to be qualified on a G-Weapon as well as two of the prototypes on the ship helped her calm down after the shock of the attack.

"Lieutenant Ramius, who are the kids?" I asked and pointed at Kira and his friends who were chatting in front of the Strike.

She gave us a brief explanation of how Yamato ended up in the Gundam, which surprised the crew of the Archangel. To be fair, taking out a ZAFT ace while piloting a machine that you had no training for and not to mention that never sufficiently damned OS was impressive indeed. However, even if I have not watched the anime, it did not take a genius to foresee what would follow. It was inevitable that someone would guess that the kid was a coordinator.

Mu gave a brief smile to Kira and then turned to Natarle.

"I am supposed to be an escort for the young pilots assigned to the G-Weapons. Where are they?"

"I am afraid that they were with the captain. As far as I know, none of them made it, sir."

"I see," muttered La Flaga.

We needed Kira as a pilot of the Strike. Furthermore, he was my best bet for an OS upgrade on my Dragon before reaching Earth. At the moment the kid's help was invaluable. First things first, though. I hoped that the bomb which my former boss was about to drop would not have worse consequences than in the show.  
Mu went closer to Kira, who wanted to know what the hell was happening. Then with no warning, La Flaga spoke softly.

"You are a coordinator, aren't you?"

A lot of gasps followed Kira's affirmative answer. A group of marines, armored with flack vests and carrying assault rifles, who had come to help securing the hanger, gripped their weapons harder and pointed them at the perceived threat. They looked warily at Yamato. I wondered what they expected? He was an untrained civilian for God's sake, not a damned ZAFT commando.

Kira's friends surrounded him in attempt to protect him and wanted to know if the marines were out of their minds. Something that I wanted to know too.

Ramius and I barked orders at the same time.

"Lower your weapons, men!"

"Stand down, damn it! They are civilians, not a threat!"

The armed soldiers reluctantly did as ordered.

"I believe that an explanation is in order, ma'am," said Natarle in a respectful tone. However the look in her eyes said it all. She did not agree with the presence of the teens on the Archangel.

"It's obvious, really. This is an Orb colony. Neutral space, our presence notwithstanding. Considering their policies is it so surprising that there are coordinators here who do not want a part in the war?" I said while my best glare was split between Natarle and the marines. I looked at Yamato. "I am right, aren't I? Besides it's not like he has any choice in who his parents are or what decisions they made for him."

"That's correct. I'm a first generation coordinator."

"Which means that your parents are naturals. So if you fight, no matter on which side, it will be against your people," declared La Flaga.

Mu apologized for revealing Kira's origin then looked at the Strike wistfully.

He told us how the original pilots assigned to the G-Weapons struggled to make them even move, just like me when the Dragon was in MS configuration. I had to be very careful while moving the equipment containers in the ship. More than once I nearly overbalanced the machine and fell. As things stood it was a suicide to use it in combat outside of the MA configuration.

"What do we do now?" asked Natarle.

"We have two real choices – fight our way out or stay put, wait for the next attack and try to eliminate as many as possible of the MS which Le Cruset sends against us. But, knowing the bastard he'll send his units armed with heavy anti-ship weaponry. A battle here has high chances to wreck Heliopolis not to mention that the Archangel could not use either its speed, maneuverability and heavy weapons while inside. The same goes for the Dragon. My primary cannons in MA mode will easily punch all the way through the colony's hull."

"I have the same thoughts. If you ask me we can't afford to spend too much time here," Mu agreed.

"However, so far we've loaded only the G-Weapon equipment. The ship is seriously under-supplied, and there are a lot of things we could retrieve from Morgenroete," interjected Ramius.

"Ma'am, you are in charge of the ship so in the end the decision is yours." I looked at the Lieutenant who was still dressed as an engineer.

"We need to load more munitions and supplies before leaving, though I loathe the thought of another battle inside."

Unfortunately she was right. It was a relatively long journey to the nearest EA base and I did not know how much of its consumables the Archangel had in stock. After a brief conference with the engineers it was clear that we could not leave immediately. The CIWC ammo was only twenty percent. Without the close in antimissile guns operational, the chances of the ship getting to the nearest friendly post, much less Earth were minimal. All that needed to get through were few heavy missiles and I had no illusions that Kira and I will be able to stop everything even if the enemy did not have Gundams to throw our way.

**=GSI=  
**

**16:30 PM; EA Archangel, Orb colony Heliopolis**

While the most of the crew were busy bringing in more supplies or running maintenance on the Gundams and trying to fix Mu's Moebius, I found myself in the mess hall, drinking a cup of coffee. There I was confronted by La Flaga and Natarle who wanted answers. Oh boy.

I waved them to the nearest table. At least the compartment was otherwise empty. What I was about to say to them was not for everyone to know. Beside I needed to clean up the air between the three of us. There were more than enough problems going around without personal issues or mistrust.

"So, Knight, what the hell happened to you?!" Mu exclaimed. If you are wondering that was my call sign. Perhaps later I'll go into detail how I got it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The disjoined memories of the man in whose body my mind was placed came to the front.

"I believe that you both know that I was shot down at the battle of Endymion. To say that I was in a bad shape after that would be an understatement that would make any British proud."

"How bad?" asked Natarle with a cool voice. Her face was an unreadable mask.

"I was clinically dead for longer that is healthy." I gave them a sad, lopsided smile. "Someone high up the EA brass decided that my skills were too precious to loose. So I ended in the hands of a bunch of butchers who were trying to make soldiers capable to fight with coordinators on even terms."

For a minute there was silence while my words sunk in. Mu gave me a piercing stare which was oddly comforting.

"What do you mean 'make' them?" asked La Flaga.

"They were trying to create super soldiers who could match the coordinators. The ONI folks with who I ended later, and that is another story about which you do not have the need to know right now, told me that most of those experiments were disaster. I apparently was lucky despite the side effects..." I trailed off thinking about the fate of the other human CPUs and the way the poor bastards were treated.

"Veil! Enough with the evasion! Tell us what happened to you!" Ah, good old Mu. He was never one to tolerate bullshit.

"The general term amongst the Atlantic Federation science team that operated on me is Human CPU. Increased reflexes and reaction times, physical strength at least equal to that of coordinators. There are supposed to be two types according to what ONI told me. Boosted men and Extendeds. Both have been augmented chemically and with cybernetic implants. Both need regular doses of medicaments or the nervous systems starts to deteriorate and then there is a danger of implant rejection and which is fatal. The Extended program is supposed to be a more subtle and effective approach that the Boosted men one but its recipients require, let's say regular 'maintenance'. The little ONI managed to find about that gives was enough to give me nightmares."

The pair of EA officers listened to me with a rapt attention. Natarle had a disbelieving look on her face while Mu was grimly nodding.

"I've heard some nasty rumors about the Boosted men program," muttered La Flaga, "How bad is it?"  
"I haven't tried to go without my meds for too long. Fortunately I'm apparently something in between the two programs, a middle stage if you will. As far as I know, only the Boostedmen will be ready for deployment in the foreseeable future. The Extended program is in purely experimental stage and I was 'lucky' enough to be a guinea pig for some of their hardware. So the side effects are not too bad. However, the combination of the operation and the time I was clinically dead resulted in massive memory loss. While I retain my skills most of the rest is a blur. Though I am getting flashbacks from time to time and remembering things." I looked at Natarle whose eyes were gazing at the floor. "I am sorry to say that I did not recognize you but given your reaction I guess we were close."

She raised her head and our eyes met. I felt like falling in two pools of purple light.

**Flashback**

I was sitting in a Coffee which was near one of the small gardens under the domes of Luna City on the Moon. Across a small, round table, a beautiful apparition, wearing a red, summer dress was sitting in a chair identical to mine and smiling brilliantly. I was laughing at a joke my date had told me. I absent mindedly noted that I should thank to Hank Jensen, an old friend from the academy, who had arranged for me (and persuaded me after a lot of insistent pestering) to go to a blind date. For a change that turned out to be an excellent decision if the great time we were having was anything to go by.

We were both ensigns with the EA, looking for an opportunity to chill off after the pressures of a war that was going badly. We had a few days of leave on the Moon while waiting for secure military transports for our next assignments. As it turned out we were going to be attached to Eight Orbital fleet which was out on maneuvers right now.

I found her funny and pleasant company. She was the first thing that made me smile after the last two battles that I took part. In both encounters with ZAFT the squadrons I was attached to were all but wiped out. I had managed to down three enemy MS in the different engagements and thanks to my performance I was assigned to a unit which was going to fly a new type of Mobile Armor.

I was listening Natarle talking affectionately about her family, who were an old military dynasty within the Atlantic Federation. Her soft voice calmed me down, somehow making the stress flow out of me. For a short time the horrors of the war were forgotten as I was listening to my date..."

**Flashback End**

I came back to reality to see a painfully familiar, concerned face hovering centimeters from me. Without thinking, my right hand, gently brushed an unruly lock from the face of Natarle. I smiled despite not being entirely sure where I was.

"We met at that nice, little Coffee shop at the Galileo's Sector in Luna City. Nele, you were stunning in that red dress..." I murmured.

Her eyes widened a bit, then she gave me a heartwarming little smile.

"Ahem. I do not like to interrupt you two lovebirds but there are few more things I need to know. But first are you all right?" Mu interrupted the awkward moment.

I shook my aching head trying to clean up my mind.

"I need an aspirin," I groaned and stood up with the help of Natarle.

I looked at her sadly. She still cared or perhaps was even in love with a dead man. Damn it, ROB neither of us needs something like this right now, damn it all to hell!

For few seconds I felt anger but it was soon ended by the general numbing lack of feelings Ihad been experiencing since being placed in this new world. There really was only one thing I could do for the ensign right now.

"Natarle, after all that happened... I am not the same man you knew. I'm sorry." I turned around and left, refusing to meet her eyes. I prayed that if I ever started feeling again, I won't be haunted by whatever feelings the man I possessed had for this poor woman. So much for ROB not being a bitch.  
I heard Mu saying something to her but I was already exiting the door and wasn't paying any attention. I needed at least few minutes of shut eye. I think that the pressure of everything that happened was getting to me.

**=GSI=**

I just reached my new quarters and fell in the small bed when Mu caught up to me.

"Hey, Delkatar!"

"Lt.," I muttered.

La Flaga leaned on the wall near the door and studied me for a while.

"You could have handled that better."

I rolled my eyes.

"How exactly? All I remember of the woman is pieces of a date. I know that she was pleasant company. That's about it. Hell, I could not remember either her face or name. I have no idea how I'm supposed to be feeling about her, neither do I know what kind of relationship we had, if any. So what the hell would have me do, Mu?!" I snapped at the other Lieutenant.

Something in the tone of my voice made him reconsider his next words. Probably it was the desperation.

"You really do not remember, do you?" It was a declaration rather that a question.

I shook my head in denial.

"It's miracle that I'm alive and with some pieces of my old memories or personality. Or so they tell me. From where I'm standing there is not much to be happy about. There are moments when I do not know who I am anymore, " I said quietly.

After a long pause, Mu started speaking. I felt that he was choosing his words carefully.

"That is for you to decide." He came near me and unexpectedly tapped me lightly upside the head. "But, no matter if it's selfish or not, I hope that there is enough left in there from my old friend."

He did not have to add that we both had already lost too damn many friends to the endless appetite of this war. My headache intensified as a bunch of familiar faces which I knew I have never seen in my life flashed in my mind. I almost could put a name on each of them. I groaned. What the hell was happening to me?!

**=GSI=**

**Part 2  
**

The conversation I had with La Flaga and the beginning of an existential crisis was interrupted by shouting. Someone was arguing just outside my quarters. If I was not mistaken, I was placed next to the kids in order to keep an eye on them. Mu and I looked at each other. We had a pretty good guess what was happening outside. Our newly elevated glorious leader was trying to persuade Kira to pilot the Strike. You could guess how good that went.

I stood up with a groan. I knew that I should have felt badly about what I was about to do, however there was nothing. Just an unidentifiable sense of unease. I stretched my aching muscles and was regarded with a quiet pop in my back. That felt better.

When we exited, Kira, who was surrounded by his friends was saying something about how he wanted no part in the damned war. Part of me wished that I could grant him that wish. Kids had no place in the maelstrom of fire and death but I knew that all too many children were involved anyway. The war did not care.

"Lieutenant Ramius, Kira. What is this god awful racked about?" I asked innocently. Next to me, Mu snorted when he heard my tone.

I ignored the attempted explanation during which everyone but me and Mu tried to talk simultaneously. After all I knew what the problem was.

"Silence!" I snapped in a not too bad imitation of the tone of voice that a barely remembered DI from the academy loved to use on us poor newbies. That was a particular nightmare I did not regret mostly forgetting.

"So, the nice Lieutenant over here," I waved at Murue, "is trying to persuade Kira to continue piloting the Strike." A bunch of empathic nods answered me.

"And you," I fixed Yamato with what I hoped to be an unnerving stare, "want to go back home and away from this madness. Understandable."

Ramius glared my way but I ignored it. Instead I asked her a question.

"Lieutenant, what is the status of the shelters?"

"They are at condition nine because of the attack. All of them are sealed. The good news is that when I checked few minutes ago the evacuation was almost complete."

"Small mercies," I muttered and returned my attention to Kira. "You have three choices kid and none of them are good ones." I started counting on my fingers. "First, you and your friends could leave, which will place you in the area which the ZAFT will attack any time soon. With the shelters closed, even if that bastard Le Cruset did not authorize the use of heavy weaponry which could hole the colony and vent its atmosphere, you won't be able to get to a somewhat safe place in time. I do not need to tell you what will happen if you are outside in the crossfire between this ship and a bunch of Mobile Suits whose pilots will be out for blood, do I?"

The kids had palled and were shaking their heads. Yeah, the picture I was painting was not pretty but it was true.

"Second, you stay on the ship. I doubt that Lieutenant, excuse me ma'am, Acting Captain Ramius will kick you out when there is the danger of imminent attack. In this case you'll be passengers and could only hope that I'll be able to keep the ship in one piece when ZAFT come gunning for us. In that case you'll be our guests until we reach a safe port."

I could see that the teenagers liked that option better. Kira however looked torn. Smart boy. It looked like that he was aware that we were more than a week, at best, from the closest EA station.

"However, sooner or later Le Cruset will deploy the four stolen prototypes. Even if Mu's Moebius is fixed by then it will be very hard to keep them away from this ship. And that is without counting the other MS ZAFT has or their ship."

Yup, what was behind door number two did not look so appealing after all.

Ramius was looking between me and Kira with a raised eyebrow and a frown on her face, while Mu's features were carefully schooled into a total lack of expression. However there was that mischievous twinkle in his eyes that looked damned familiar.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" moaned Kira.

I felt for the kid. Really! He was between a rock and a hard place just like me. That however did not stop me from manipulating him.

"And there is your third choice. You pilot the Strike and together with the rest of us," I waved at my two fellow lieutenants, "you do you damned best to keep this ship in one piece and protect everyone on board."  
I gave him a hard stare.

"It's your choice to make, Kira. With your help our chances are much better. That's all I can promise you."  
Ding dong. Time for another interruption. This time it was in the form of alarms and Natarle's voice calling the captain. Ramius went to a comm panel which was embedded in the wall next to my room and we soon heard what the racked was about. Increased N-Jammer interference and increasing emissions of active ECM. ZAFT was on its way.

I am glad to say that our new captain acted without hesitation and started to snap orders immediately after learning about the situation. Mu was sent to the bridge to command the close in weapons, just like in the anime. She turned to the kids.

"With the shelters sealed and an incoming attack I could not let any of you leave. It's too dangerous. Let's hope that all of us make it through. Lieutenant Veil, prepare to launch." She gave me the order and hurried to the bridge.

He stiffened. I could almost see waves of anger radiating from him.

"You are not being fair!" spat Yamoto.

"It's not. Welcome to the real world kid, it's not a nice place. However that does not make anything I told you any less true. I can't ensure the security of this ship alone."

I patted Kira on the shoulder in attempt to reassure him and headed to the hanger. It was show time. I only hoped that I'll be able to do something and prevent the destruction of the colony.

Before I turned the corner I heard running steps behind me. I looked back and saw Kira sprinting after me. I smiled. Good lad.

**=GSI=  
**

**16:58 PM; ES Archangel, Orb colony Heliopolis**

'Here we go again,' I thought. For a second time I was in the cockpit of the Dragon, preparing for battle. This time, the stakes were higher. Beside the safety of everyone on the Archangel, the homes of a few million people were at stake. Plus whoever would die when their shelters/lifeboats get damaged or destroyed by stray shots.

"Our top priority is to escape Heliopolis. Be careful not to damage the colony during battle." I could hear the captain's voice through my comms.

I re-checked my harness and sealed the helmet of my flight suit. Then I went through my mental check list again. All systems of the X311 were nominal. The connections with the catapult were green. A beam rifle was secured to my Gundam though I did not believe that I'll be able to use it in this engagement. The shield resting on the left arm of my machine was something else. When transformed it would provide some additional armor to the underside of the Dragon, something which was always useful as far as I was concerned.

I was plugged in and listening on the command channel. One of Le Cruset's maniacs just blew a hole in the colony in order to make a new entrance. Things just got real.

I checked the command circuit of my machine, which had direct connection with the Strike.

"Kira, keep a level head and do not forget to check your sensors. You can do this. Good luck, kid."  
Moment later the order to launch came through.

"Dragon, you have a green light. Launching now." The voice of the chief engineer sounded through the cockpit of my Gundam second before I was slammed into my seat by an insane acceleration. In what felt like a blink of an eye the Dragon flashed through the "leg" of the Archangel and then I was outside the ship.

This time I felt different. An icy calmness spread through my body. The numbness that was plaguing me lifted, leaving me feeling alive, full of energy. I hit the switch and the Dragon transformed in its MA form.  
A panicked voice sounded over the comm – apparently the Aegis was detected. I hoped that Athrun will be indecisive long enough for me and Kira to deal with the GINNs. So far there were five of the mass produced MS. Two were armed with heavy beam cannons and the other three had racks with four heavy torpedoes each. The latter group was my primary target. I left the rest to Kira and the Archangel.

The Strike was locked in a deadly dance with a Beam Cannon wielding GINN, whose pilot was good enough to avoid Yamato's attempts to cut the ZAFT MS into pieces with a beam sword as tall as the Gundam. Meanwhile the other artillery unit was dividing its attention between bombarding the wildly maneuvering carrier and taking snap shots at Kira. The two GINNs acting as missile platforms were flying in evasive patterns and searching for opportunity to torpedo our mothership. Something that could not be allowed.

I fired a burst at one of the ordnance heavy enemy MS's, discouraging it from reaching a good attack vector. It evaded my fire, which struck a parking lot on the ground. The resulting detonation obliterated scores of vehicles of all types.

The enemy pilot turned my way and unloaded six small missiles from launchers mounted on its MS thighs. I held the trigger for my Dragoon pods and headed straight towards the incoming ordinance. Beam after beam of blue colored energy preceded my flight. A missile was detonated midair. Another was shattered by one of my shots but failed to detonate. Then a third and a fourth.

In the last possible moment I banked upwards, interposing the shield slung at the belly of my MA between myself and the weapons seeking my destruction. The Dragon was thrown upward by dual explosions. I was rattled and almost ejected from my seat despite the harness keeping me secure. My ears were ringing from the sound of the explosion. However my displays showed that all everything was still working all right and even the shield, which was protected by Phase armor too, was mostly intact.

The X311 emerged from the smoke of the explosion unharmed. The GINN that was my first target had chosen to avoid the barrage I sent at his missiles by going up too. I shot at him while its pilot was trying to target me with the anti-ship torpedoes. One beam missed and went on to destroy another piece of Heliopolis. The second however was spot on. It hit the right rack with heavy missiles just as the coordinator fired at me. The GINN disappeared in a center of a titanic explosion which blinded my sensors and cameras for the next few seconds. I banked left, seeking to avoid the spreading ball of fire and plasma.  
When my screens cleared I saw a huge ball of smoke in the sky and the tumbling form of a single torpedo which had somehow survived the conflagration. I helplessly watched as it impacted a residential neighborhood and whipped it out of the map in a flash of fire.

With a vile curse on my lips I returned to the battle. In the next few seconds, while I was closing on my next target, I had a great view of the battlefield. Kira managed to slice in half the GINN he was dueling with, obliterating the machine and its pilot. Moments later, the Archangel used its primary beam cannons to nail one of the missile equipped MS's, which had expended most of its heavy ordnance. I could see a sea of raging fires below the carrier. The ZAFT pilot obviously had missed and laid waste to a big part of the colony's interior. All that destruction and it was little more than a minute after the beginning of the battle. I dismissed those thoughts and continued my hunt.

I had to deal with the remaining GINNs because the Aegis was making a beeline towards Kira and the kid was about to have his hands full. I shouted a warning over the comm and raced towards the nearest enemy. It was the last of the torpedo armed machines. The same one which ended unintentionally destroying Heliopolis after being hit by the Archangel.

The Dragon leveled its flight path and took careful aim. The ZAFT machine, was sluggish thanks to all the ordinance it was carrying. It unloaded its light missiles at my mothership but it was just far enough for the close in defenses to handle them. I snapped six shots in quick succession. My aim was not the GINN itself but rather its torpedoes, which were the real threat. Its pilot showcased his skills. The machine weaved around my fire, dodging first, then second and ever third beam. The fourth however connected with its left leg and shattered it, staggering the MS. My fifth shot struck the shoulder of the GINN from above and penetrated deep within its torso moment before the last beam bisected the right torpedo rack. The last missile platform disappeared within eye-searing conflagration, never to be seen again. In its last seconds, the enemy pilot managed to release one of his heavy weapons.

The active torpedo flew in the general direction of the Archangel and was shredded by the CIWCs. I released a breath I did not remember holding. Heliopolis should be safe for the moment.  
I should have known better that taunting Mr. Murphy with that thought.

The Strike and Aegis were floating mere meters from each other and their pilots were shouting at each other on the open comms, the bloody idiots. I was searching for the last GINN when Athrun's Gundam lunged forward and tackled Kira's machine. A thick, continuous beam of emerald energy passed through the place the Strike was occupying a second earlier. I watched with dread as the anti-ship cannon shot struck the colony's spine, melting a large hole in it. Even kilometers away and I could hear how the metal groaned under the unimaginable stress of the attack and its primary function – preventing the colony from shattering under its own momentum.

The X311 dived, its engines whining in protest of being pushed to the limits in atmosphere. My hands were flying all over the controls with cold precision. That shot had revealed the location of the last artillery equipped ZAFT MS. I lined a shot and pressed the trigger. Apparently Ramius had the same idea because two anti – MS missiles and a barrage from the Archangels cannons struck the GINN almost at the same moment as my beams. That executed in anger attack was an overkill which not only obliterated the mobile suit in the heart of sea of flames but blew a new hole in the colony's hull. While bad, that strike was not fatal for Heliopolis.

However, the hit on the central spine was something else. Rotated my MA so I could take a closer look. The structure anchoring the whole colony was shaking but I did not know if it was as an after effect of the last attack on it or if it was because its weakened structure no longer was able to fulfill its primary function. Everyone who was able watched the spine with rapt attention. I could hear the sound of groaning metal.

Is that it? I wondered. Did my presence made a difference or was Heliopolis doomed no matter what?


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it. **

**Phase 03: Confrontation**

**=GSI=**

**Part 1**

**17:05 PM; Orb colony Heliopolis**

I was staring at the central spine of the colony. The reinforced metal from which it was crafted was moaning like a wounded beast. A large segment of the construct was a glowing, half molten wreck. I thought that no amount of engineering and redundancies build in could safe Heliopolis from the wound the last GINN inflicted, yet the colony was still in one piece. Mostly.

I looked over my camera pickups. Even if the spine somehow held together it wouldn't do much good. At least ten gaping holes, open to space, could be seen from my position. The atmosphere of Heliopolis was busy being sucked by the vacuum of the space or being consumed by the voracious appetites of multiple infernos which were annihilating vast residential and corporate districts. At least the fires will be gone as soon as there was no more oxygen to fuel them.

A high powered, automatic, emergency transmission blasted on all channels.

"Attention! Attention! Heliopolis has suffered critical damage. All life boats will be launched momentarily. Brace for acceleration."

So much for saving Heliopolis though I guess that if someone decides to foot the bill the place might be salvageable. I was no engineer though so I did not know if an attempt to repair the appalling damage dealt to the colony was feasible. Besides there was a war going on so I did not believe for a moment that anyone would even think about starting such a project at a times like these.

On the bright side, Heliopolis did not shatter so most of the colonist should be OK. The only casualties should be those unlucky enough to be in life boats situated in areas hit by heavy weapons.

All that was academic if Le Cruset's people attacked again and finished wrecking the station. It was time to get out of here.

"Kira, stop messing around. We should leave before ZAFT attacks again. Heliopolis has sustained too much damage already. Another battle in or near it could result in a blood bath for the residents. "

"The Lieutenant is right, Kira. We are leaving."

My sensors pinged, informing me that the Archangel was picking up speed and heading to a huge rend in the colony's hull. It was a bit smaller for the ship to fit but it was nothing that a few surgical shots

from the main canon's could fix.

Kira stood frozen for few more moments before turning around and heading for the ship.

I flew as a vanguard and planned to deal with any ZAFT MS which were waiting on the other side. The X311 screamed out of the colony, with the escaping air giving it an extra bit of velocity.

The moment the Dragon exited the grievously wounded colony, it started series of wild, evasive maneuvers, which proved to be futile – there was no visible enemy in range. The only thing my sensors could detect were shoals of escaping life boats and various debris, which were tumbling through the void.

"Archangel, this is Dragon. No enemy units in sight. Your line of fire is clear of civilians. Proceed."

"Affirmative, Lieutenant Veil. Please stay on CAP duty."

"Roger that."

I was flying "above" Heliopolis and using the advanced sensors built in the Dragon as a makeshift AWACS platform. However it did not help much. Scores of escape pods were launching from the colony. I guess that whoever was left in charge wanted the civilians away while they tried to halt the rotation of the massive construct before it shattered under its own momentum. It made sense. The life boats had better chance if they got away without pieces of the colony flying everywhere.

For us that was a two edged sword. The hundreds of new sensor contacts made long range detection very hard at best. So while it was unlikely that I'll be able to detect another ZAFT sortie before they were close, the same was holding true for them.

"Archangel, this is Lieutenant Veil. It is a god damn mess out here. I believe that our best chance is to leave right now. The life boats will conceal our position and give us a head start. Depending on what ships ZAFT has out here, we might be able to outrun them without further combat. "

That was not likely but it was not a chance I was willing to pass.

"Affirmative, Lt. I passed your message to the captain."

It was up to Ramius, I guess.

**=GSI=**

Four shots from the carrier's dual mounted main cannons and the ship had made the hole in the side of Heliopolis big enough for its bulk. The Archangel exited slowly, carefully matching its course to the slowly rotating makeshift door. Once the ship was safely out of the colony, me and Kira received order to land. I thought that the boss lady had made her decisions and we were out of here. I should have known better.

We all received a distress signal which was differed from the countless life pod beacons which were blanketing the air waves.

One of the nearby pods was damaged when something blew up near its berth. I wondered if that was the same on which was Flay, the ministers daughter. It would be an incredible coincidence if, despite the changes, that happened anyway. If that was the case, I thought that my work would be even harder because in that case the probabilities here might very well be screwed into making more likely a future resembling the one I was sent to change.

I shook my head. It wasn't as if I could do something about a thing like that. I just had to do my best. Which, right now was to argue with Natarle who did not want any more civilians on the ship. It was cold blooded outlook she had but not without good reasoning I think. The Archangel was undersupplied and undermanned. With the flush of people brought on board, our situation would worsen.

"Ensign Badgiruel. The nearest ships that can provide help, besides the ZAFT task force which is attacking us are at least a week away. If we do not help the people in the damaged pod are as good as dead. You should also take into an account that a neutral colony was wrecked because of our presence. When this becomes public knowledge, the media will have a field day with both the EA and ZAFT. Lets not make things worse. Besides how would you feel to be left to die in a damaged escape pod when there was someone who could have helped you?!" I snapped over the link with the Archangel. " Kira, pick the damaged life boat carefully and carry it to the ship. We need to get out of here before Le Cruset's men came calling again. I do not want to fight with so many civies flying around. Every miss could hit multiple life boats."

**=GSI=**

**Part 2**

While Kira was maneuvering the escape boat into the starboard hangar I landed in the other "leg" of the ship and let my Dragon in the capable hands of the engineers who hurried to change my machine's batteries. While the X311's energy reserves were not particularly drained I did not fancy the thought of going in combat with something less than fully charged power. I headed for the other hangar wondering if the history repeated itself and we just saved Flay's boat.

This time, unlike when the shuttle brought me to Heliopolis, I was well aware of the microgravity in which I moved. The closest way I could think of describing the feeling was to compare it to a cross of swimming underwater and floating on the surface. It was unsettling that a part of me found it utterly mundane while for the rest of my mind it was a scary novelty. Yet, moving in this new environment was natural. After all the training and experience the man I whose body I was inhabiting had received, it was not something that should have needed thinking about.

I found my way to the starboard hangar and smirked at the sight that greeted me. Kira was slowly floating to the bulkhead next to which his Strike was parked. He had a girl with fiery red hair in his arms... and a knee long pink dress which was obviously not a recommended clothing for a place where you lacked a firm gravity...

Yup. She had a veeery nice pair of legs on her. Too bad that she was a jail bait. And a ministers daughter to booth...

"Men! Stop gawking at the lady and back to work!" I snapped at the deck hands who were supposed to service Kira's Gundam and fix the last Moebius Zero in existence.

"Kira, you probably should escort the young miss to the crew quarters and help he find something more appropriate to wear considering we lack normal gravity.

"Eeek!" Flay squealed.

It was an ear piercing shriek. It was just now she noticed that her dress was floating and revealing an interesting sight...

"After that come find me. I'll be either in my quarters or with the captain. We need to talk."

I turned my attention to the one of the few marines guarding the hangar.

"Call few more men to help the civilians settle down, corporal."

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" The man gave me a textbook salute and moved to a comm terminal installed close to his position.

While our unexpected guests were dealt with I made my way to the bridge where I found the rest of the command staff of the Archangel arguing.

"We do not have appropriate Alliance codes! Who knows how Artemis would react to our appearance!"

"We don't have much choice. Our provisions are low. We might made it to the Moon but not while fighting on the way there."

"I may have a fix for that problem. I have ONI authorization codes. Artemis should recognize them. However what Garcia would do after letting us dock there is another question. It depends on what ONI personnel are stationed there. "

"Garcia!? I hate that guy..." groaned Mu.

"So do I but what choice do we have? We can't outrun ZAFT. Not with that Nazca out there." I noted.

"I understand the situation." said Ramius.

"I am sure that Eurasia will understand our situation."

"I wouldn't be too sure. The commander of Artemis is an opportunistic bastard. However that is still our best chance. We should be able to contact Luna base from there and I hope that me and whoever ONI has watching over that rock will be able to keep Garcia in check. But first we must actually reach the base in one piece..."

**=GSI=**

**ZAFT Nazca class, Near Orb colony Heliopolis**

"At least the colony survived. If you can call it that. The council might be lenient about the damage we dealt to it." muttered the captain.

"Its not nearly as bad as Julius Seven. Its not like you could call Heliopolis a neutral colony with it producing advanced weapons for the Earth Alliance." declared Le Cruset.

"What would we do now? We are out of Mobile Suits. The only ones remaining are what's left of yours and the wrecked GINN which helped blow a way through the colony's outer hull." That had taken the combined firepower of said MS's heavy beam cannon and the two remaining ZAFT ships main armaments.

"What are you talking about?" scoffed the masked man. "We already have the data from the captured machines and it is being sent to ZAFT as we speak. There is no reason whatsoever not to send these machines after the legged ship."

"We have trouble finding them within that chaos over there." the captain pointed to the main view screen which showed hundreds of escape boats flying around the cylinder of the colony.

"Sooner or later they would have to make their minds and either seek sanctuary in Artemis or dash towards the moon. We'll take position that will allow us to intercept them no mater where they choose to run. My bet is on Artemis. I do not believe that they had time to resupply properly before we attacked."

**=GSI=**

**EAS Archangel, in the vicinity of Orb colony Heliopolis**

After we made a plan that had reasonable chances to get us to Artemis in one piece I headed to the living quarters. I needed to have a chat with Kira. Mu had similar idea and tagged along.

"You did well out there." he said.

"Thanks. But it was not good enough. Heliopolis got wrecked anyway."

"At least most people made it to the shelters in time."

"Small mercies." I muttered.

Mu slapped me on the back.

"Don't go mopping around. If its anyone's fault, blame who you should – Le Cruset."

"Oh, I most certainly do. How have you been after what happened with the rest of the squadron?" I changed the topic.

La Flaga grimaced.

"I've been better. It was a dark time. "He gave me a winning smile. "At least you got back from the dead so its not all bad."

"Yeah. Lucky me. "

"It beats the alternative. "

We reached the crew quarters. On the way there we passed by a check post where the civilians picked by Kira were identified and assigned place to stay. In a case of someone with skills we could use, the NCO handling the affair was nicely asking for the man or woman's assistance. That way we picked up a doctor who was now busy fixing the captain's shoulder.

We found Kira surrounded by his friends and Flay. She had gotten into a uniformed trousers to the eternal regret to the male members of the crew. It looked a bit strange under her pink dress but it was better than letting her flash the men on board.

"Kira, I've got news from Murdoc, our chief engineer. We are understaffed so he wants each pilot to help maintain his machine. "

"I am no soldier! Do you honestly expect me to continue flying the Strike?!" he exclaimed.

"Yup." I grinned at him. "Do we have to have the same conversation again? Me and Mu can't protect the Archangel from two battleships and four Gundam's by ourselves. You know that the OS of the Dragon is not worth the hard drive space it takes. I am barely able to use it as a heavy loader in MS mode much less in combat! You are a bright kid. You can imagine what will happen when Le Cruset sends the rest of the G-Weapons against us."

He winced. He had seen enough of me flying in the X311 to conclude that its agility as a MA was less than stellar.

"That's about what I wanted to talk with you. I saw you with the Strike. Either the machines are with different OS or you tweaked yours."

He looked guilty at that.

"I... ah...had to change it so I could fly the Strike."

"Splendid. If it is not too much bother I want you to see about fixing the OS on the Dragon."

"That's a good idea, Kira. With the three of us we may be able to protect everyone until we reach a safe harbor."

He glared at us.

"You two are a pair of manipulative old bastards!" he pouted.

"Yup. What gave us away?" grinned Mu.

"I thought that it was common knowledge by now. Eh. Our carefully crafted reputation is ruined! Ruined, I tell you!" I faked distress.

Kira chuckled at our antics.

"I'll think about it piloting again but its no trouble checking the OS on your machine."

"Thanks, Kira." I turned to the red-haired girl with a thoughtful expression on my face.

"I can swear that I've seen you before miss. And I don't mean the accident in the hangar."

She blushed with her face becoming almost as scarlet as her hair.

"I am Flay Allister. I do not think we've met before." She stammered from embarrassment.

"Ah. You are the daughter of vice-minister George Allister, aren't you?"

"Yeah. He's my father."

"That figures. There's where I've seen you."

"Have a good day, miss Allister." I nodded at her and headed to the hangar.

I had no intention to irritate the people making sure that my MS was in top form. They had a lot of creative ways to make my life a living hell without really endangering myself, the Dragon or Archangel and her crew.

**=GSI=**

The two ZAFT battleships were searching for the silent running legged ship. They were spread covering the most likely vectors for flight towards the Alliance fortress of Artemis. Their captains had disregarded what they believed to be a decoy flying towards the moon and were hunting for the illusive prey that was the Archangel. The Laurasia class detected a ship's silhouette at the edge of her sensor coverage. It was slowly moving in the direction of the EA base. The comm chatter between the two ZAFT crafts spiked and their engines roared to full military trust. The three main beam turrets of the Laurasia class traversed and took aim. Crimson beams with white tingles on the edges stabbed through the void of space.

**=GSI=**

**Part 3**

**19:26 PM; In the vicinity of Orb colony Heliopolis;**

The plan was simple. To maximize our chances for reaching Artemis, we needed to do something about the two enemy ships stalking the Archangel. That is where the "Scylla" cannons on my Dragon came in. The X311 was floating next to a piece of space debris which had been drifting in this region of space for a long time. The Archangel was a considerable distance away. She was moving slowly, under full blackout. The course of the experimental carrier was carefully chosen to be one of the most direct and thus short vectors to the Eurasian fortress. If the ZAFT did not cover it, the Archangel would have a great chance to reach the safety of the allied base before they could intercept the ship. So odds were very good that at least one of the enemy warships would make an appearance.

I was not disappointed. My sensors detected two thermal blooms of engines roaring to life. I checked the geometry of the enemy positions and smiled. I should be able to get to the Archangel before the second ship was in range. Perhaps even before its MS could reach my mother-ship. My targeting computer was able to determine that the closer ZAFT craft was a Laurasia class, so unless there were more changes from what I knew of the Gundam Seed series the Gundams were on the other ship. Well, I could not get everything my way, could I?

I aimed my first shot only using my MA's cameras and passive sensors. It would not be as accurate but it would give me the element of surprise. I waited for ten endless seconds as the computer refined its long range targeting solution and gently squeezed the trigger.

The Dragon shook when twin beams of scarlet death lanced forward. No doubt the ZAFT craft already knew my position but the enemy warship simply had no time to evade. It could not move fast enough to generate a miss if my targeting was good enough.

Without waiting to evaluate the effects of my first shot I engaged the engines to full power and sprang towards the Laurasia class. My sensors went active as well as my ECM suite.

**=GSI=**

**19:27 PM;**

**Laurasia Class Gamow's Bridge, Near Orb colony Heliopolis**

Captain Vega Zallman was sitting calmly in his command chair. He did not let it show if he was in any way apprehensive about leading the charge against a ship that by all accounts was at least generation beyond his own. The so called "legged" ship was now on his sensors and his crew were busy refining targeting solutions.

Zallman was pressed back in his seat by the acceleration as the Gamow's engines were burning to intercept the enemy craft. He could almost hear the cannons mounted on the three main turrets of his vessel moving in their housings and aiming at the white ship.

He was proud from the swift and precise actions of the men and women under his command. After months of painstaking training and brutal combat, they were forged into a well oiled machine.

"Guns, fire when you have positive lock." the Captain ordered.

"Yes, sir!" came the immediate answer from the ship's weapons officer.

However that was not to be. Two spears of pure energy streaked towards Zallman's ship. He had a moment to comprehend that his command was ambushed after the sensor operator shouted a warning. The ships pilot was already taking evasive maneuvers but the Captain knew that it was too late for that. Before the Gamow could obey the command of her helmsman she was struck.

Mercifully enough only one of the two energy beams connected. It struck on an upwards angle. The blast of crimson pierced the starboard turret and proceeded to smash its way through the short pylon on which the central of the three primary dual-cannons were mounted. Two thirds of the heavy energy weapons of the Gamow were erased in an instant along with twenty five of her crew. The ship listed to its port side. It was physically moved by the kinetic energy of the beam.

"New contact! Heading 2-01-15! It is approaching at high speed."

"Evasive pattern Beta 3. Launch anti-MS missiles. All CWCS on stand by for automatic fire." said Zalman in a calm voice, as if he was not doing something more stressing that ordering groceries.

"Energy spike!" shouted the sensor operator.

"Brace for impact!"

**=RK=**

**X311 – Dragon**

It was a race between myself, the captain of the Laurasia and Le Cruset's Nazca class with its Gundams. One I was about to win. Before the more powerful ZAFT ship and its MS could become a factor I unleashed the Multi-Phase Energy cannons on my Dragon for the second time. That was second before my target answered with a spread of four missiles which boosted in my direction.

Both my shots pierced the MS hangar under the main body of the frigate. The high energy beams cored the compartment which was engulfed by hellish flames when some of the ammunition contained within was detonated. The ZAFT ship shook and was thrown off course by the internal blasts.

I opened long range fire on the missiles heading my way. The beam cannons mounted in my Dragoon pods made short work of the incoming ordinance.

**=RK=**

**ZAFT Frigate Gamow**

Captain Zalman bit off a curse when the Mobile Suit bay of his ship was wrecked. At least it was empty of personnel ever since the GINN compliment of his frigate was wiped out so no additional victims from that strike beyond the crew-members who were not secure in crash webbing when the attack hit.

"All missiles intercepted short from the target. Its some kind new mobile armor."

"Rotate the ship and head in its direction!" ordered Sinclair.

With the turrets which could face to the starboard taken out with the first lucky hit, the Gamow could not meat the incoming enemy with heavy firepower if maintaining her current course. The CIWCs would be unable to faze the attacker. With so much heavy firepower, the enemy pilot did not need to come in their range.

**=RK=**

**X311-Dragon**

A small part of my mind, what I could recognize as a remnant of the man I was before being flung in this universe was frantic. This was not my damn war! Yet, here I was – flying a high tech dead machine and doing my best to snuff out the lives of few hundred people. But those protests were distant, quiet. Ice water was running through my veins. There was no real pity and regret in what was the dominating part of me – the phantom of a super soldier built on the operating table. There was only the mission. The ship I was firing on was simply that – a target, instead of a craft carrying living, breathing human beings.

The lethargy and apathy that were my constant companions eversince I awoke here were gone, replaced by lethal, calculating precision.

The Frigate changed its bearing and ponderously made a turn to bring its remaining heavy weapons to bear. The Dragon gave me the dual warnings of multiple targeting sensors locking onto me and of new contacts appearing in front of the Nazca, which was racing this way. I disregarded them for the moment and shot again before receiving the positive lock tone for my own missiles.

The four "Lance Dart" KEP's separated from my DRAGOON pods and sped away to their destination.

My third cannon attack glanced the armored bow of the enemy warship leaving deep gorges of molten metal.

**=RK=**

**ZAFT Frigate Gamow**

For the first time since the start of this assignment, Zallman cursed out aloud. The last strike nearly destroyed the bridge and killed them all. As it was, the main power to the forward sections of his ship was cut and his bridge crew was illuminated by the eery red glow of emergency lighting.

He was listening over the internal comms, which were still operational, the frantic orders of his XO from the CIC burred deeper in the ship. The Mobile Armor was still coming and it had launched missiles which were not impressed by the countermeasures and ECM the first officer had deployed. CIWC guns opened fire and managed to damage one of the KEP enough for it to miss its target.

The other three struck the Frigate mid-ship and a moment later detonated. The starboard pod was torn away from the main body of the Gamow by the massive internal detonation that gutted the ZAFT craft. The wrecked spacecraft was finished by a pair of crimson energy shots which entered the huge gaping holes made by the "Lance Dart's".

Captain Zallman had a second to regret failing his crew before a chain reaction of blossoming explosions tore the Gamow apart.

**=RK=**

**X311-Dragon**

I was close enough to see how the Laurasia class was shattered by a rolling wave of internal detonations that fragmented the once proud craft. I had the blood of hundreds on my arms and I felt... nothing. I could almost hear a whispering in my head.

"_Target eliminated. Mission accomplished. Return to base."_

Whose were those thoughts? Mine? That of the dead man I possessed? A side effect of all the cybernetics stuck in my head? Or was I just loosing it? In the middle of a battlefield no less.

My short lived confusion was drowned by a wave of cold logic and I banked my MA to the right and headed to the Archangel at top speed. Behind me the four captured Gundams were heading our way followed by the Nazca class. The battle was far from over and I could not allow myself any doubts if I wanted to survive the approaching encounter with the ZAFT Aces.

"This is Knight. Target destroyed. I am returning to base and bringing company. "

**=GSI=**

**Part 4**

**Near Orb colony Heliopolis**

The Dragon raced through the distance between the ambush point and the Archangel. Behind me, the four stolen Gundams were in hot pursuit. The good news was that I would reach my mother ship with few minutes to spare before the enemy MS reached it. On the flip side, we would have to deal with them. I had the distinct feeling that with this being the real world, it was unlikely that either Kira or the Archangel had their plot shield. Neither did I.

With my X311 locked in MA mode until Kira had time to update its OS so I could use its full capabilities, I was in a great disadvantage. Facing run of the mill ZAFT suits within Heliopolis was bad enough. This coming battle was going to be much worse.

When I was close enough, my sensors detected the ship and Yamato's Strike which was small by comparison. There was no sight of Mu's Zero. So the plan was in motion. Or totally messed up by a technical screw up...

I took escort formation near the Archangel and awaited the arrival of the ZAFT forces. Unfortunately, I did not have time for a pit stop to get the Dragon's batteries recharged. My energy was down to seventy five percent.

"So, Kira, which pair of Gundams do you want?" I quipped on a private channel.

"Very funny." grumbled the kid.

"Three contacts detected! They... they are the X numbers! Buster, Duel and Blitz!" announced the sensor operator of the Archangel.

"Where is the Aegis?" I asked aloud.

The three captured machines moved in triangular formation in an attempt to braked the Archangel from behind. I flew to meet them, leaving Kira near the ship.

"Another contact detected! It's approaching fast from the starboard!"

"Strike, intercept the new contact." I ordered calmly.

From behind me, twelve Korintos missiles darted around my Dragon and sprinted towards the three Gundams moving on intercept vector.

Meanwhile, an unfamiliar male voice spoke across one of the channels dedicated for contact between the G-Weapons. With me piloting the second command model, I had access to the same communication equipment and protocols as Zala did. That permitted me to listen to his conversation with the kid.

"Kira!" exclaimed the ZAFT ace.

"Athrun!" I could hear the surprise in Yamato's voice.

"Stop it Kira! Put your weapons away! We are not enemies, am I right? Why you, a coordinator like us, must fight against your own people?"

"Well, if that is the case let us all go home!" I interjected with amusement filling my voice.

While we were idly chatting the battle was unfolding around us. I could see the Duel banking to its left and shooting down a missile homing on it. I let my Dragoon pods loose under wire control and opened fire at the X102. Its pilot was forced to maneuver erratically in order to evade my beam fire. I used the pods to keep him busy and targeted the Buster with my primary weapons sending a dual beam of crimson death its way. The artillery platform managed to twist its bulk so my shots passed harmlessly by the MS.

The Blitz was dancing around the missiles targeting it and blowing them out of the sky while moving towards the Archangel. The Buster, while maneuvering to make itself a harder target was also creeping towards my mother ship. Only the Duel was kept in check by the burst fire of my pods but I could not keep such a barrage indefinitely. Not while piloting a battery powered suit, anyway.

Behind me, the carrier was lit up by the fire of its weapons. Both anti missile guns and main weapons were filling the space around it with as much ordinance as they could in futile hope to discourage the enemy operated Gundams.

I mouthed a curse and cut loose the Dragoon pods leaving them on wireless control and headed to the ship. It was just a matter of time before either the Buster or Blitz find an opening to exploit.

Most of us were fighting for our lives, yet Kira and his friends were just flying around each other and chatting. Bloody kids.

"Why Kira!? Why are you siding with the naturals!?"

"I am not a part of the Earth Forces! My friends are on that ship! The same ones ZAFT almost killed when you wrecked Heliopolis!"

"Athrun Zala, is it?" I asked. "You should have thought about that before wrecking a neutral colony!"

"What about you, Athrun? Why did you join ZAFT and the war?" exclaimed Kira.

I shook my head with amusement. This was starting to resemble a bloody soap opera. At least Kira's sister was not with us. Yet.

"Athrun! Stop fucking around! Why are you not attacking!" shouted the pilot of the Duel.

The Dragon's communications suite had no problem intercepting the transmission and patching it to me. I wondered when the ZAFT pilots would catch up and understand that I could intercept all communications between the Gundams. I decided to show the Duel's pilot that I had not forgotten about him so I ramped up the fire rate of the pods. I could hear him cursing on open channel before he pushed his machine to the limits.

If it was not for my cybernetic enhancements there was no way I could multitask so much – controlling the Dragoons, piloting my MA in combat and carrying out a conversation with one of the enemy pilots. I had to keep a tight control over the pods in order to keep the Duel from shooting them down.

For some reason the Buster and Blitz's pilots decided that it was a good idea to attack the Archangel from the front. The supposed stealth machine flew in first using itself as a shield for the artillery platform. The Phase armor of the Blitz had not trouble tanking the shots from the CWCS and a barrage of light missiles. It was briefly engulfed by the combined blast waves of multiple explosions but moments later emerged from it unscratched. The best that attack did to it probably was to rattle a bit its pilot.

The Buster used the distraction provided by his fellow ace to move to the board side of the carrier and opened fire at the ships flank. Two anti beam charges detonated over that side of the Archangel and the first two shots from the Buster's beam cannon dispersed harmlessly before reaching the armor. However that type of defense bought a very short respite. As one could expect it was not a practical thing to use in space if your ships had to maneuver. The anti beam charges however were really useful for protecting static installations. Then the attacker had to haul KEWs to do the job.

The third shot from the cannon connected with the super-dispersive armor plating of the Archangel heating her until it glowed orange for few seconds. But it held and soon started cooling down.

The Blitz added the loads of its missile pods to his onslaught but before it could use its cannon again, the ZAFT pilot was forced to move it away from my mother ship. He had to do so or be lanced by my anti-ship cannons. I flew by the stolen Gundam, peppering it with rounds from by Vulcan cannons. While they had no chance of breaching its Phase shift amour, every hit drained a bit of the suit's power.

"Its too well armed! I can't get a clear shot! Not with the Mobile Armor trying to blast me away!" I could hear the words of the Blitz's pilot but did not reveal the ability to listen in.

The Duel flew under the Archangel, tanked through the barrage from its close in weapons and turned so it could target the relatively vulnerable belly of the ship. The carrier rotated too and aimed two of its main cannons at the Blitz which was forced to evade the energy blasts.

I shot at the Duel, preventing him from easily targeting my mother ship. I frowned when a red light started blinking on my display. The wireless connection with the Dragoons had weakened dramatically thanks to the energy thrown in by our combat. So the pods were returning to my location on autopilot. I cursed. Now the Duel was going to either go after Kira or join the assault on the Archangel.

**=GSI=**

**Nazca class ZAFT ship Vesalius**

"We are approaching the enemy vessel. Distance 740. The MS force reports that they are engaged by one enemy Mobile Suit and the MA which sunk the Gamow." reported the sensor operator.

"So they have not fixed yet La Flaga's armor." muttered Le Creuset.

"I believe that we can assume so." the captain agreed.

"Target the Legged ship with the main cannons. Once its dealt with their mobile forces are finished. We can simply wait for them to run out of energy before gathering the rest of our prize." declared the ZAFT commander.

**=GSI=**

**X311 Dragon**

I winced when a shot from the beam's cannon flak carried by the Blitz pelted my armor. It did little more than scorch the paint but it was an unpleasant reminder that my only advantage was the speed my MS had in MA mode. Every other Gundam had me beat in the agility department.

I heard a transmission from the Duel to the ZAFT ship. It confirmed that there were only the two of us deployed and that he was going after Kira. I hoped that Le Creuset would think that Mu's Zero was still out of commission after he trashed it earlier. While thinking to my old friend, where the hell was he?! I was down to thirty percent energy and Yamato's reserves would not last much longer while he was facing two enemy Gundams. It should be noted that as a command suit with more active system, the Dragoon had one additional battery built in giving it more combat endurance even when going all out.

I could see the dot representing the Strike on the edge of my sensors. Kira was dodging madly in all direction trying to keep his machine in one piece. He was desperately blazing away at the Duel with the occasional shot thrown Zala's way. At that rate he was going to run out of energy before me and considering how far away he was, there was no way that I could go to his aid without compromising the Archangel's defense. I believed that the carrier could survive for short time against the two Gundams but that was not something on which I was going to bet my life.

The Buster decided to make the life harder for Kira, at least until the Nazca was in range. Its pilot sent few shot at the Strike before I persuaded him that such an action was not good idea. A combined barrage from my main cannons and the pods which had returned to me bracketed the ZAFT piloted MS in a web of beam fire. The X103 remained largely untouched but one of its cannons got its barrel melted making it a useless piece of scrap.

The Buster headed towards the Strike while the Blitz disregarded the Archangel and flew at me.

I threw the Dragon in a spin barely avoiding energy beams which lanced at me. The damn thing was fast, neutralizing most of my sole advantage. At least it was designed as a close combat model. If it had more beam weaponry, I would have been in real trouble. However it did its purpose splendidly. It kept me busy while the other three Gundams were ganging on Kira. With the Archangel rotating to face the approaching Nazca class, there was no help to be had from there besides a single missile salve sent at the G-Weapons attacking Kira.

Where was that scoundrel La Flaga!?

**=GSI=**

**Zero Moebius, on intercept vector with ZAFT Nazca class**

Mu was getting restless. With no real cover to speak about, the two part ambush directed at the Le Creuset forces had to be carried out with some improvisations. Veil had managed to sneak up to the Laurasia class but his Dragon had weapons with much longer reach. So La Flaga was reduced to crawling on minimum power on a vector he hoped to lead him below the Nazca. Before the enemy warship could attack the Archangel.

Even at this distance he could receive weak transmissions from the battle. It was not going well. Kira was facing three of the stolen MS and Delkatar was kept at bay by the last one. The Blitz was fast enough to prevent Veil from simply outpacing it and going to Strike's help. Being unable to use the X311's MS mode in combat, there was not much Delkatar could do besides hoping to disable his opponent with lucky hit.

The Zero was drifting closer and closer to the projected course of Le Creuset's ship. Its passive sensors detected the enemy craft and the EA ace frowned. It was distant enough that he may not get the surprising attack he was hoping for.

A look of determination shone in Mu's eyes and he sped up at his quarry. The moment his engines got to full power he hit the afterburner. Any time now the Nazca would be in range.

It was a race between the last Moebius Zero and the crew of the ZAFT ship.

**=GSI=**

**Part 5**

**Zero Moebius, on intercept vector with ZAFT Nazca class**

Mu frowned. He felt the crawling feeling that always came over him when Le Creuset was nearby. The enemy ship was seconds from range when it banked to the starboard and opened fire with all its secondary weapons. The EA Ace simply shrugged and continued on his course. He released the gun funnels from their mooring. Moments later his Zero crossed the invisible line signifying that the Nazca was in range, and he opened fire with his linear canons.

All the firepower of his Mobile Armor was targeted at the engine section of the enemy ship. For seconds, so long they felt like hours, La Flaga's craft hurled itself in the Nazca's teeth. Only a great amount of luck and his superb skill as a pilot gave Mu a chance. He was even treated to a rare sight of pyrotechnics – on of his shells stuck the warship's defensive fire and blossomed into a crimson explosion. The annihilation of the two pieces of metal lit up the space around the Vesalius, momentarily drowning the lights of the short but vicious encounter.

"Yes!" exclaimed Mu when he hit near the spaceship's engine. Something vital detonated and the bulk of the Nazca visibly shuddered from the shock-wave.

That was his cue. The second part of his plan was suicidal. After the stunt he was about to pull out, La Flaga knew that he could hardly haze his revenant friend. Moments before the Zero passed by the stricken enemy ship, he launched a dart which was connected to his MA by a metal wire. This grappling hook pierced the weakened armor of the Nazca and unfolded inside.

In the last possible second Mu banked around the warship using the leverage provided by the wire connecting his craft with the much larger ship to change his vector in a turn that would have been otherwise impossible.

He nearly lost consciousness by the sudden G-forces falling upon his body but his suit did his job and barely kept him awake. Painted smile appeared on his face when he knew that his maneuver succeeded. Mu hit the afterburner for all it was worth and headed towards the Archangel.

Behind him the Nazca's crew was firing maneuvering thrusters in an attempt to prevent the ship from spinning out of control.

**=RK=**

**X311 Dragon**

A relieved smile stretched my lips when I received a message from the carrier. Mu had done the deed!

Behind me the Archangel was rotating to face the distant enemy warship. Various hatches on opened revealing its main cannons. I prayed that this time this Earth would be luckier and the shots would blow Le Creuset out of existence.

I knew it was unlikely but a man can hope, right?

"The Vesalius has been hit!"

"They want us to return?! Now?"

I could hear the exclamations of the men piloting the stolen Gundam. It was time to get Kira out of the bind he found himself.

"Archangel Actual, this is Lieutenant Veil. I am requesting fire support against the Blitz." I spoke calmly in my mic.

I twisted the Dragon out of the way of a beam shot and returned the favor against the enemy machine that was making my life hard. The Blitz danced away from my return fire, and I banked to the left so I could keep him away from close range.

"Archangel, do you copy?" I asked, wondering why there was no answer from my mother ship.

I frowned and glanced at the instrument panel to my left. I grimaced and felt like bashing my head against the closest, convenient flat surface. My comm was stuck in receive only mode. I thought about the battle while evading fire from the stolen machine.

It was stuck that way eversince the start of this battle. I remembered Kira answering me just before the enemy MS arrived. I shook my head in embarrassment wondering how I could forget something as basic as this.

Well, the answer was simple – I was out of my depth. While, thanks to ROB undoubtedly, I did have the skills of a competent soldier and excellent pilot, I lacked the practiced experience needed for what I was doing. Things that should have been a second nature were not. Not yet at least. I just hoped that I'll survive long enough to polish my skills.

The side effects of the operation that had put my body back in one piece were partially to blame too. Thanks to the cybernetic implants in my brain I found it very easy to multitask... however my mind was not accustomed to such actions. I was missing details, something I could ill afford in combat. I doubted that I had plot armor as Kira had in the anime. That said, here he, as well as the crew of the Archangel and the enemies we were fighting were real, blood and flesh humans.

That meant I could not afford to become complacent and assume that unless I changed something the events in this world will unfold just as in cannon. On shot moving few degrees in the wrong direction was all that was needed to ruin someones day. Permanently.

I did not have time to ponder such things. I continued to exchange fire with the Blitz and repeated my request for fire support. This time it was hear and approved. Seconds later I could see missiles launching from the Archangel which was below me and to the left.

The screens in the part of my cockpit facing that direction polarized for few seconds announcing that some of the cameras had closed their irises to protect them from the intense light created as a by product of the Archangel's main guns.

Le Creuset's ship had obviously retained enough maneuverability to evade at that range because I could hear disappointed reports over my still open channel to the carrier.

The salvo sent at the Blitz had better success. The agile Mobile Suit managed to evade one of the missiles and shot down two more. The last slammed into its side sending it on a new trajectory. Unfortunately that had a downside – a pair of beams shot by my main canons passed through its previous location moment after the detonation moved it away. Yet, it was not enough for the Gundam to get away unscratched. Its right leg was melted off just above the knee.

After that close call, its pilot decided that enough was enough and headed to his own mother ship.

I smiled. With any luck that damage would have disabled its stealth system.

"Kira break towards the Archangel!" I ordered before requesting that the carrier send few more missiles after the Blitz to encourage it on its way home. Soon another salvo raced his way.

"Back him up!" ordered Captain Ramius.

"It's impossible while they are in such a close quarters!" came the frantic answer from one of the weapons operators.

With that frustrating machine out of my way, I headed towards Kira who was dealing with the other three stolen machines. The Strike was dancing between energy beams, evading shots against which its Phase Armor offered no protection.

I was about a minute from entering effective range of the MS skirmish when suddenly the Strike's engines cut off and the suit started drifting. Damn it, the kid was out of power!

I saw the dot representing the X301 merging with the one of symbolizing Kira's machine.

"The Strike has been captured by the Aegis!" I heard an unnecessary report from the Archangel's sensor operator.

"I am heading to retrieve the Strike and Yamato. Vector Lieutenant La Flaga this way as well." I informed the Captain, and pushed the Dragon's engines up to full power.

As I raced to help the kid, I could hear the chatter of the ZAFT pilots.

"Aegis, what the hell are you doing? Your orders are to destroy it not to tow it home!" exclaimed on of the enemy pilots.

"I am capturing that machine." calmly answered Kira's friend.

"You are ignoring orders." Informed him another pilot.

"Athrun, what do you think you are doing?" wondered Kira aloud.

"You are a coordinator so I am bringing you home."

This was becoming a real soap opera. I shook my head at their antics. Perhaps I should not forget that all of those kids were teenagers despite being a group of elite pilots. Except Kira who was just an amateur with incredible potential.

"Archangel, prepare launch the "Launcher Striker" pack! I want it out in two minutes when I am in range of the Mobile Suits."

"Confirm that, Knight!" ordered Natarle.

"If I am remembering the specs correctly, that pack has built in batteries from which the Strike can siphon power. I'll distract the G-Weapons while Kira docks with them. His suit should still have some emergency power which he can redirect to the engines for such a maneuver." I explained my reasoning.

"Its dangerous, but it might work." muttered the Captain.

"Either that or I'll have to shoot down the Strike in order to deny it to the enemy. It is the prototype for the Mass Produced MS of the EA. It will be easiest to reverse engineer and put in production. Its bad enough that ZAFT got the other machines. I can't allow it to fall in their hands." I said quietly.

After few seconds of tense silence, Ramius ordered the launch of the pack.

I watched my sensors carefully as well as the information coming through the data link with the Archangel. Mu would be in range twenty seconds after me. I subtly reduced my MA's acceleration so we could attack at the same time. I sent him a message to target the Duel while I concentrated on the Buster. Those were our targets after we forced the Aegis to release Kira.

That at least was the plan and I had no reason to believe it should not work. In the original time-line, Mu had pulled it off alone, against all four captured machines. Yet, I felt uneasy.

The seconds that passed while I approached the fleeing enemy felt endless.

Finally I was in range. The Buster turned around and aimed at me with its beam canon, forcing me to evade. That cost me a clear shot at the Aegis, which I left for La Flaga to handle, and I opened fire at the artillery platform. At least that part of the plan was still working.

I saw the pinkish colored MS take hits from the Zero's linear canons and it released the Strike.

"Kid, use the override on your emergency power system. The Archangel sent a Launcher Pack for you. Go and get it!" I ordered while trading pot shots with the Buster.

The Strike floated helplessly for few seconds before its engines roared to life and it darted in the direction of our carrier.

I glanced at the level of interference around us and smiled viciously. It was low enough that I could safely use the wireless mode of my Dragoons. I sent the pods after Kira so they could provide him with covering fire, and less than twenty seconds later that decision was proven to be correct. The Duel had broken from trying to nail Mu, leaving my friend to the Aegis and flew after the Strike. I was locked in an artillery duel with the Buster so I could not go to help the kid.

The Dragoons however, which were under my control, earned their weight in any precious metal you care to name. The pods maneuvered erratically and attacked the enemy machine from two different vectors. To tell you the truth, I was not trying to hit the Duel, but only to prevent it from shooting down Kira.

We all continued that deadly waltz for the next minute or so, until the Strike went under the defensive umbrella of the Archangel. All this time, the carrier was accelerating our way.

The front of the warship was lit up as it opened with all of its secondary weapons on the Duel. The pilot of the captured machine took one look at the ordinance heading his way, and decided that discretion was the better part of valor. He made a tight turn while still banking around randomly to evade my pods fire and headed back towards his mother ship. Soon enough the Buster and Aegis disengaged too.

I glanced at my power meter which was at four percent and getting lower. This was an underwhelming resolution of the hostilities but at least we were all alive. The same can't be said for the crew of the warship I sunk. I idly wondered how long it will be before the full impact of what I've done hit me. I had killed few hundred people in my sneak attack, and felt nothing unusual. Whether it was because the drugs, the implants or a combination of the two I did not know. Though I believed that if was in their power, the bastards who had put my body back together, would have done their best to eliminate my conscience. After all, it was a pesky thing that could get in the way of following orders without question. Damn Atlantic Federation bastards!

I let those thoughts drift away and guided my Mobile Armor towards the Archangel.


	5. Chapter 4 Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.**

**AN: This part is currently unbetaed. I'll repost it when its cleaned up.**

**Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed**

**=GSI=**

**Part 1**

**EA Warship Archangel**

**en route to EF Space fortress Artemis**

It took me about twelve hours of dreamless sleep after the battle to start feeling somewhat normal. At least I thought so. If it was any indicator, the apathy which had been gripping me ever since awaking in this universe was starting to lift.

I rolled out of my bunk and stretched my stiff muscles, which made their displeasure at the abuse I put them through painfully evident. It was becoming evident that making all these life-saving high-G manoeuvres in the Dragon wasn't without a toll on my body, cyborg or not. That was another thing not covered in the show. Neither EA, nor ZAFT had inertial dampeners or similar technology. Which meant that one of the greatest limitations of any military hardware was the pilot's endurance. In retrospect, that was one of the greatest advantage the Coordinator's had. They were not only tougher, able to remain conscious under greater G-Forces, but they recovered faster from the abuse that a high speed space or atmospheric fight put on a Mobile Suit's pilot.

That was something that I was well aware of. While I was in better shape thanks to my implants, I was still far from being at top form after the latest battle. My only hope was that once I was accustomed to my new body and the stress of combat I would recover faster.

Nevertheless, I was up and in reasonable shape so after a brief visit to the toilet I made my way to the bridge to check up on the ship status. 'And on 'Nat...' a treacherous voice whispered at the back of my head.

That stopped me cold for a moment. I shuddered wondering if I was loosing my mind, though perhaps it was all to late for such thoughts. In the end it was as likely as my situation.

I shrugged and went on, being thankful to my still subdued emotions. I really couldn't afford to start freaking out. Instead, I decided to concentrate on my mission. Which reminded me that I had to take my damn meds, so I turned back and headed back to my bunk to drink the bloody pills...

**=GSI=**

I got to the bridge without any further distractions. The door slid open revealing that the compartment was mostly empty. A couple of NCOs were manning the Helm and Sensor stations, and Acting Captain Ramius was strapped to her chair, engrossed into a data pad. When she heard the door she glanced my way and nodded.

"Lieutenant Veil, it's good to see you up and about," she greeted me in a no-nonsense tone. "From what I've heard of Mobius Squadron recovery times I expected you to be still out."

"Apparently this is a bonus thanks to the additional bits and pieces rattling around me nowadays, ma'am."

"Indeed?" she raised an eyebrow at me while examining me for a long moment. "That's good to know. Considering our very short pilot roster, this ability of yours could prove to be a lifesaver."

"Perhaps. What's the situation, Captain?" I asked.

"As you know, the Nazka Class was damaged and forced to retreat. With the destruction of the Laurasia Class, we should be home free. In theory. However, we were unable to load sufficient supplies for a run to the Moon even before taking in the refugees. So we will have to stop at Artemis to replenish our consumables..." she trailed off.

"It's likely that ZAFT is aware or at least suspect our situation. At any rate they would be foolish not to dispatch a pursuit force just in case we would have to stop at the base for one reason or another." I finished her thought.

Ramius gave me a morose nod. It went without saying that any realistic chance of reaching Earth without additional combat was a pipe dream.

"I'll check if mister Yamato is willing and able to straighten the OS of the Dragon so I can finally use its full capabilities."

"Let's hope so," the Captain gave a tired sigh. "Kira hasn't been too happy about his situation. Something to do might rise his spirit."

"I gather that he isn't thrilled about being forced to fight his own people?"

She gave me a deadpan look.

"I'll go talk with the kid."

**=GSI=**

**Mess Hall**

**EAS "Archangel"**

The mess hall was chock full with exhausted and scared looking civilians. I could see few people in EA uniforms spread around the crowd, though they were painfully few. It was a startling reminder of how undermanned the Archangel was. To be fair, I would be surprised if we had even a skeleton crew on board. That's why I wasn't particularly surprised to see few kids, most from the Kira's crowd of friends, who were wearing military uniforms. I couldn't remember if they were supposed to enlist, temporally or otherwise before or after the visit to Artemis, but with the Anime being a historical show, which in turn wasn't particularly correct on the small details such as this, it didn't really matter.

I scanned the crowd until I found Yamato surrounded by a cluster of civilians and military alike. I headed his way, carefully making my way through the filled up compartment. That provided me with another "feature" of being on the Archangel. The ship was crowded with rescued civies, probably more than it should be able to carry under normal circumstances. That little fact combined with our lack of consumables, like water, despite the reasonably efficient filter systems on board, meant that the people around me stank.

That was definitely not covered in the Anime. Ah, the joys of ROB induced shenanigans.

Finally, I made my way to the prospective Perfect Coordinator. A bespectacled boy wearing and ensign uniform which was a number too big for him scramped to the side, making a bit of space on the bench near Kira. I gave a kind nod to the kid accompanied by what I thought to be a reassuring smile.

"Mister Yamato, may I have a word with you?" I asked.

Kira turned around and looked at me. He appeared a bit startled by my sudden appearance behind him.

"Ah, Lieutenant Veil. All right, sir," he looked lost for a moment. "Can we talk here do we need to go outside?" he asked.

I shrugged. It wasn't as if the information we were about to discuss was some deep dark secret. The fact that I hadn't used the MS form of the Dragon during the previous engagements, combined with samples of the G-Weapons OS, would have been enough for the ZAFT and Le Creuset in particular to get the correct conclusion that as it was I couldn't pilot the X-311 as a Mobile Suit. Before the civilians had any chance to blab about anything they heard here, it wouldn't matter one way or another. Besides, it was unlikely that Kira wouldn't tell his friends what he would be doing if he agrees even if ordered not to. With them being civilian kids, I wouldn't bet that the whole ship won't know soon enough anyway.

"Mr Yamato, I need a favour. As I understand it, you were part of the team building the OS for the Gundams."

Kira's face twisted in disgusted expression and he started muttering less than flattering things about the bloody thing, before giving me a questioning nod.

"I need you to fix the Dragon's OS so I can actually use it as a Mobile Suit in combat. As things stand, I'm in a distinct disadvantage in any engagement against the Gundams or most of the ZAFT Mobile Suits. Can you help me?"

He gave me a sidelong look. I could see him thinking hard and it wasn't hard to guess about what. With my machine fully operational, the chances of him and his friends surviving until we reached a save haven where they could disembark would greatly increase. Not to mention that if he was really lucky, he might not have to pilot the Strike in combat again. The last point wasn't particularly likely, but under the current circumstances it wasn't impossible either.

After a minute or so of silent pondering, he gave me his answer: "Sure thing. I should be able to fix it. I think..." the last words were a barely heard whisper.

"That's splendid, Mr Yamato!" I exclaimed cheerfully. "When can you start?"

He glanced at his mostly empty tray, in which I could see the remnants of a standard MRE. If my fragmented memories were correct, it wasn't something that most civilians would willingly eat though the rumour has it that the damn things were actually not only edible but an incredible leap in comparison what soldiers had to eat in bygone era.

I could agree about the edible part at least.

Kira pushed the food tray away and stood up, taking good byes with his friends and we headed for the hangars, where we spent the rest of the shipboard day working on the Dragon. Mu was there too, though he was too engaged helping the Chief Mechanic fixing his Moebius which had taken some damage during our latest engagement.

**=GSI=**

**Crew Quarters**

**EAS Archangel**

After finishing work for the day (read working ourselves to near exhaustion), Mu, Kira and me headed to our quarters. On the way there I exchanged glanced with my fellow Lieutenant. If I read him correctly, Mu wanted us to talk with the kid about everything that happened and especially about the last battle in which he apparently faced his best friend.

"Kira, how have you been handling yourself with everything that happened lately?" started La Flaga.

The Coordinator's shoulders stiffened. Obviously it wasn't a topic he wanted to discuss.

"You know, when you spoke with your friend Arthrun, you did it on an open channel to all Gundams," I supplied.

Kira whirled around and gave me a wide eyed glare. I raised my hands in a calming gesture.

"Hey, it's OK, kid. You aren't the first and unfortunately you're far from the last fella who finds himself on the wrong side of the battlefield from a friend," I said in a soothing tone.

"It's not fair! We practically grew up together! We shouldn't be trying to kill each others in Mobile Suits!" Yamato almost shouted.

"Kira, it's not your fault that we find ourselves in such a situation," Mu supplied.

"What my friend said. It's not like you want to fight Arthrun or something. After all, all you are doing is trying your best to keep the rest of your friends as safe as humanly possible," I added.

"I know... It's just hard!" Kira grumbled.

"Life is seldom fair or easy, Kira. Why don't you tell us about your friend? How did you meet? Where did you two grew up?" I asked.

That line of questioning actually brightened up the kid. My hair-brained idea to make him think about a better, more peaceful times apparently had some merit. A small smile appeared on Kira's face and he started telling us about growing up on Luna City where he met Arthrun at the school where both of them were going.

**=GSI=**

**Bridge**

**EAS Archangel, in the vicinity of Artemis Base**

I was somehow able to avoid meeting Natarle until we arrived near Artemis. I honestly didn't know what to say to her, being the one practically possessing the reanimated corpse of the man she loved. The fact that I had fragments of that person's memories about her made even thinking about her an awkward affair and it went downhill from there.

However, I had no choice but to meet her when we reached clear communications range of Artemis. At least said meeting was on the bridge which was the most manned I've seen it ever since stepping foot on the Archangel. There were four NCOs, three of the recruited kids, who were naturally still learning their way around the equipment as well as the Captain and Natarle.

Our eyes met for a brief moment and I had to suppress a wince. I could see longing and pain in the way she looked at me. For her I was an agonizing reminder for what she might have lost forever.

"Artemis Station, this is EAS Archangel, please respond." said the young teenager manning the Comm Station. She was another one of Kira's friends, whose name escaped me right now.

We waited for agonizingly slow seconds until we received an answer.

"This is Artemis Station. We don't have any EAS Archangel on the books. Unknown craft, identify yourselves."

"No surprise here," Natarle muttered.

"Captain, do you have Ident Codes for the ship?" I asked Ramius.

She shook her head. "I wasn't high enough in the chain of command. With the Captain and the rest of the officers dead on Heliopolis..." she shrugged.

"Plan 'B' it is then," I said and headed for the Communications station.

"What do you think you are doing, Lieutenant?" Natarle almost snapped at me.

"Please answer this question, Lieutenant Veil," Ramius words were anything but the calm suggestion as which they sounded.

"As you are aware, Captain, I'm on detached duty to ONI. I do have Identification Codes which should get us in without any fuss."

Ramius huffed, probably wondering why I didn't say anything earlier but told me to proceed. To be fair, the reason why I didn't say a thing was twofold. The Acting Captain didn't have the need to know until now and she, and Natarle were Atlantic Federation soldiers. Even though I knew better, I had trouble really trusting them thanks to some remaining paranoia from the man who I possessed. He had been a Eurasian Federation trooper through and through. No matter what anyone tells you, the AF and EF didn't really saw eye to eye on a lot of issues.

I went to the Comm station and took the headset from the girl.

"Artemis Station, this is Lieutenant Delkatar Veil from EAS Archangel. This ship is on special duty for the Office of Naval Intelligence. Identification code: Juliet Crimson Tango Black Zero Three One Nine Kilo November Victor. This mission falls under Codeword: Black Sierra One. ONI Ident: Crimson Sonata. I repeat..."

"Affirmative EAS Archangel. Please wait for Ident verification."

"Do I want to know what Crimson Sonata is?" Ramius asked.

"I'm sorry, Captain. You aren't cleared for that information under the current circumstances."

I could sense her glare attempting to bore a hole at the back of my head.

The Archangel drifted peacefully through space while we waited for an answer. The silence on the bridge was tense. I could almost feel how anxious the surrounding people were. I couldn't blame them either. Without resupply we were fucked up.

"EAS Archangel, this is Artemis Actual," a familiar gruff voice announced. "Your Ident code checks up. You have permission to dock. Be advised that I want to meet the ONI spook ASAP followed by your ship's officers."

"Affirmative, Commandant Garcia," I said in a clear voice.

"Veil, that you? Last I heard you got yourself killed on the Grimaldi front."

"That's a long story, sir!" I answered truthfully.

"Veil!" the Captain hissed. "Don't you think mentioning that you know the Commander of Artemis was a good idea?" she growled at me.

"How the hell could have I known that Gerald Garcia got promoted and stuck at this base?" I asked with all the face innocence I could muster.

My answer were a pair of whiterring glares from the female officers.


	6. Chapter 4 Part 2

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.****

****AN: ********I need a beta for this update.****

****Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed****

****=GSI=****

****Part 2****

**EAS Archangel**  
**Main Hangar**  
**EF Fortress Artemis**

When someone approaches Artemis station, they would notice one of two things. Either an unremarkable looking asteroid orbiting Earth. Or a sphere of a dazzling, shimmering light, which gleams in all colours of the rainbow. From my vantage point on the Archangel's bridge, the protective dome looked breathtaking. Seeing it on a TV screen didn't make it justice.

The sight did a great job defusing the tension on the bridge for few minutes. Everyone was too engaged either watching their stations or enjoying the view. When the Archangel passed and invisible line in the sky, someone on Artemis shut down the Light-wave barrier. It collapsed in a bedazzling display of thousands sparkling lights. When the show was finally over, we were able to see our temporally sanctuary. The monitors on the bridge which created the illusion of actual windows (to my pleasant surprise it turned out that most GS ships actually didn't have windows on the bloody bridge, though it was placed on the same place as in the show instead deep within the ships armor belt) showed us the first images of the EF station itself. It was a huge, brown coloured asteroid, which was moment's later updated with scores of icons: gun emplacements and undoubtedly masked defensive field emitters. We could see blinking green docking lights in the middle of the side we were approaching. They were extended from an armoured tube sticking out of the asteroid's surface.

Tense minutes later, the Archangel was within Artemis' embrace. The pilot was manoeuvring our ride to its berth, though most of us didn't pay him much attention. The four frigates "escorting" us in, with turrets aimed our way as well as the squadron of fighters floating in front of the bridge, were much more interesting. The company or so of troopers who were manoeuvring around the Archangel clad in space suits and carrying assault rifles were a sideshow compared to all the fire-power directed at us from point blank range. I didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned that Commandant Garcia decided to take no chances with us. I think that the Archangel received similar reception in the anime too, though the frigates aiming big ass weapons at the legged ship might have been missing there. Or I misremembered...

A piercing alarm exploded the bridge in a cacophony of sound, which startled us. It took Nat few seconds to regain her composure and locate the source.

"We are being boarded from multiple locations!" she informed us in almost frantic voice. The Ensign was furiously typing on her station, but to no avail. "They are using ONI override codes to bypass our security!" she gave me a nasty glare.

"It stands to reason that a post as Artemis has a resident ONI spook," I said. Of course the fact that the said fella could provide the soldiers boarding the Archangel with override codes was "interesting", in the Chinese sense of the word. I had the feeling that the chat with Garcia would be enlightening.

"Any other surprises?" Ramius growled at me.

"Nothing you have to worry about right now, Captain," I said calmly.

If the looks I received from the bridge crew were any indication, neither of them believed me.

**=GSI=**

Ten minutes later, the three other officers and me were escorted out of the ship, which for the moment was under the control of the Artemis' marine contingent. We were met by a blond Commander with really strange hairdressing, who escorted us to a transport. Soon enough, after a brief silent journey we reached Garcia's office.

"Lieutenant Veil, follow me," ordered the Commander. He looked at my companions. "You'll have to wait here. The Commandant wishes to debrief the Lieutenant before talking with the rest of you."

The squad of grim faced and heavily armed marines who escorted us were a pointed reminder that the requests of our host were anything by.

"As you wish, sir," Ramius answered in a cool tone.

"We won't be going anywhere," Mu dead-panned, prompting me to roll my eyes at him.

The Commander led me through a few meters long corridor, bisected by three thick blast doors. When the last barrier slid out-of-the-way, he stepped to the right and nodded me to go in.

I went forward and saw a somewhat large room. The only furniture was a cross between a built in the floor computer terminal and desk. The wall behind it was covered with monitors which were showing images of the Archangel from different angles. The next thing I saw were the two men waiting for me. One was sitting in a comfortable looking chair, with his back turned towards me. The other was a middle aged pale male in dark blue EA uniform. His insignia was of Lieutenant-Commander, but more importantly he had an ONI patches on his shoulders. He rubbed the back of his shaved head and frowned at me.

I stood at attention and produced a text book salute. "Lieutenant Delkatar Veil reporting as ordered, sir!"

"Fascinating..." muttered the dark skinned officer. "The last time I saw you, LT, you were just a bunch of raw meat and tubes."

Oh boy... "I'm afraid I don't remember our previous encounter, sir."

"You wouldn't. The AF docs were just starting to put you back together at the time."

"That's all very well and good, Jack," Garcia rumbled. "Is this Veil or just a damn AF controlled cyborg?"

That was actually a very good question. If it wasn't for the ROB's intervention, who knows who or what would have been in control of this body. The Delkatar Veil of this reality hadn't simply died under the tender care of the docs.

"He should be Veil, some memory loss notwithstanding. At least that's what my contacts back on Earth told me. It's not like we have the equipment to check. If such toys even exist yet..." he whispered the last words, but I was able to hear them.

Huh. So my hearing must be enhanced too, because I was reasonably sure I couldn't have heard him otherwise.

"I'm Lieutenant-Commander Jack Harper from ONI. You already know Commandant Garcia, Lieutenant. Ident Halcyon Black Sierra Homeplate. The Commandant is cleared to know. Report. "

I glanced at Harper. He looked eery familiar. His name rang some bells too, and I wondered whether if I survived the current unpleasantries, I would be in for a another rude awakening in few years or decades.

Garcia rotated his chair so he was turned towards me. He looked a bit older, more tired than the last time we met. Considering how the war has been going since I was incapacitated, it wasn't any real surprise.

I slowly placed my left hand in my trousers pocked and carefully retrieved a data drive, showing it to the three men in the room.

"This contains the schematics of the Archangel, the Strike and the Dragon. Unfortunately I don't have full specks of the stolen G-Weapons." I had stop myself from smiling. With just a few words I got their undivided attention.

**=GSI=**

**Commandant Office**

**EF Fortres Artemis**

"There is no mawlare our systems can detect." Harper muttered. That didn't mean that he was going to insert my date slate in anything but a standalone system. He plugged it into a thing laptop and started browsing. Few minutes later he was grinning like a maniac. "It appers to be legit, though it should be verified by specialst nonetheless."

"Knock yourself out. As long as you keep the station secure."

"You know I run a tight ship, LT." Garcia frowned.

"Yes. I think." I tilted my head, trying to jog my fragmented memories. When nothing new came forward, I shrugged. "The issue is with the abilities of one of the Units ZAFT jacked."

"What is so dangerous as to threaten my command?" the Commandant raised an eyebrow.

I could see where he w as comming from. Hell, even most of the latter models I remembered from the show wouldn't be a threat to this station.

"The Blitz is equipped with Mirrage Cloud system. For all intents and purpoces it makes it invisible for both ifra red, radar and optical sensors."

"Well, shit. We can't keep the shields on indefinitely." Garcia muttered.

"The good news is that we managed to damage it during our last encounter with ZAFT. So it will be some time before it could be deployed. Unfortunately as things stand, this base is now far from invincible."

"Once they reverce ingeneer the system, this base is screwed. We don't have the forces on hand to hold on a determined attack without the shield." Harper added his two cents.

"Not to mention that you and your friends are making us a primary target."

"It can't be helped, I'm afraid."

"Worst case scenario, they are sending in the Blitz once it's patched up. All it would need to do is blow up some of the shield emmiters, maiking a gap for their forces to poor in. We aren't equipped to handle a close in combat with mobile suits. Not if they are serios about thaking out this place." Garcia fummed.

"May I make a suggestion, sir?"

The commandant looked back at me. "By all means, shoot away."

"Artemis' strategic importance was small, even before the fiasco with the G-Weapons. It's simply out of the way and the ZAFT could ignore it. On the other hand, this information is a game changer." I nodded at the data stick I gave Harper.

The spook nodded, small smile tugging the corner of his lips.

"You want me to abandon the station and use all mobile forces under my disposal to escrot the Archangel back to Earth."

"Officially."

"And incidentally we are to ensure that the Eurasian Federation get's the data on those weapons. Because I'm sure that they will conviniently forget to share it with our superiors back home."

"Probably a breakdown in communications." I quipped.

"I need to think about this. You are dismissed for the moment, Lt. Don't get yourself lost, again."

"I have no idea what are you talking about, sir." I gave them a text book salute and strode out of the room.

**=GSI=**

Once outside Garcia's sanctuary, I asked for directions to Archangel's officers. A private with too much free time on his hands was ordered to act as my guide and led me to a nice guest appartment, where the command crew was cooling their heels. I didn't fail to notice the four armed and armored marines guarding what I presumed to be the only entrance.

"I need to speak with the folks inside, sergeant." I turned to the highest ranked solider of the guard detail.

"Sorry, sir. My orders are not to let anyone visit them until the Commandant is ready to meet them."

"By all means, call Garcia. I'm sure I'm allowed in."

After few minutes of waiting and a call which went through to Harper, I was let in.

"Veil!" Badriguel exclaimed once she saw me. "You are all right!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I looked at her in confusion.

"Let's say that the locals weren't too friendly."

I glanced at the trio's uniforms. All were standard AF issue. That figures.

"Despite the alliance, there is apparently no love lost between the two federations." I shrugged. "I spoeke with the Commendant. With a bit of luck we'll get not only ressuplied but an escort back to Earth too."

Mu whistled. "How did you manage that?"

"My charming personality?"

"Delkatar! This is not the time for your antics!" Natarle's purple eyes glared at me.

For some reason that sent a pleasant buzz through my system. God, she was beatuful when angry. I shook my head, tryin to chase away the memories of the dead man I was possessing.

"Fine, Nat. I'll be good! I promise." I blurred out without thinking.

Where did that come form?

She froze and stared at me. "You alway say that." she muttered averting her eyes.

"Ahem." Mu interrupted the awclard moment.

"All right. I had to point out that with the Blitz out there, this place is undefendable."

"It's a good thing it was crippled." Ramius added.

"Yeah. It would have been here by now if it wasn't." Mu added.

"Let's hope that we'll be on our way before it's fixed. I'm going to check on the crew. Garcia apparently doesn't trust you for some reason so you'll be stuck here untill he makes his mind."

"Please see that they are all right." Ramius asked.

**=GSI=**

**Archangel**

**Docking Bay**

**EF Fortres Artemis**

"What's the meaning of this?" I snapped.

Kira was on the ground, blood leaking from his split lip. The chief engineer was hovering protectively over the kid, covered by assault rifles wielded by a pair of marines. Four more solders were pointing their weapons at the rest of the crew and the civies we picked up, who were all herded inside the mess hall.

"The little bastard is a Coordinator." The blonde Commander I met earlier spat.

"Your point being... sir?" I asked calmly. "He is member of my ship's crew. Further, Mr. Yamato had demonstrated during multiple engagements on whose side he is on. Before you dig yourself a deeper hole, Commander, I suggest you call Commendant Garcia. I'm sure hell have something to day about the way you've been treating the Archangel's crew."

The Officer gave me a nasty smile. "Oh, I'll do just that. Lieutenant."


	7. Chapter 4 Part 3

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.****

****Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed****

**Part 3**

**=GSI=**

**Commandant's Office**

**EF Fortress Artemis**

"Remind me again, why I haven't spaced that imbecile yet?" Garcia asked.

"Known Blues. He's been more useful to us on the large..."

"Yes, yes. Keeping a tab on him makes it easier for you to know what the damn fanatics are doing on my station." The Commandant grumbled.

"Under different circumstances it might have been advisable to keep the charade." Harper shrugged, then returned his attention to the tactical plot showing Artemis and all detected units in its vicinity.

"The data Veil provided changes everything."

"That fleet too."

Both officers stared at the dots which were crawling towards their position. The ZAFT force that had been keeping long range watch over them ever since the war started, was finally on the move, burning straight at them. The implications were clear. They either already had the Blitz up and running or it would be ready soon. The Lightwave barrier couldn't be kept on indefinitely so it was only a matter of time before the station was under assault.

"With the Archangel and its Mobile Suits we'll probably survive the first attack..." Harper muttered.

"We don't have the forces necessary to hold this place without the barrier. We are just too deep in enemy territory." Garcia grumbled.

"You know what they will order us to do."

"Send the Archangel towards Earth, with escort and then make a heroic last stand."

"That's what the AF brass will insist on doing and our folks might agree."

"I don't feel like dying anytime soon. Besides once we have mass produced MS we'll be on a more even ground."

"With ZAFT or our friends back on Earth?" A thin smile appeared on Harper's face.

"Yes. Set condition One through the station. I want all ships, including the Archangel resupplied. I won't let the bastards have the initiative when they have a god damned stealth platform ready to sour our day."

"What about Commander Jenikovski?"

"Relieved for conduct unbecoming of Officer." Garcia stood up. Harper, make sure that our Blue friends volunteer to man Artemis while we escort the Archangel back. That way they might do something useful with their lives for once."

"It will be my pleasure, boss."

**=GSI=**

**Mess Hall**

**Archangel**

**EF Fortress Artemis**

"What the hell are you doing?! Unhand me at once!" Blonde screamed at the Master Sergeant who was overseeing a pair of privates who were in turn busy handcuffing the officer.

"Commander Jenikovski," The NCO grinned. "By order of Commandant Garcia, you are relieved of command. Please resist and make our day."

"WHAT?! This is some kind of mistake! Arrest him!" Jenikovski nodded at me. "He's damned Coordinator lover! Damn traitor!"

"You know, 'Commander', you Blue Cosmos idiots are starting to sound like a broken record. No originality whatsoever." I shook my head sadly.

While Jenikovski was dragged away I carefully looked at the troopers in the compartment. Three of them were decidedly unhappy with what was happening, about a third of the rest looked like that they didn't particularly care, but the remainder obviously liked this development.

"He wasn't the most popular fella on the station I take it?" I asked the Sergeant.

"No, sir. He and his kind leave a bad taste in one's mouth. It reminds us of some unpleasantries from the past."

"Ah. To be frank, I've been wondering how the Blues found so many sympathizers in the EF considering our shared past."

"It's been more than a century now. At least the chief maniacs don't come from our side of the pond this time."

"Yes, it's ironic. It's what happens when people start forgetting their history."

"Sir, the Commandant has requested your presence in the Command Center." The Sergeant changed the topic.

"You should have started with that."

"Once the current unpleasantries are resolved." He added. "They are now." The NCO gave a pointed look at the troopers in the Mess Hall. "We won't have any more problems, are we?" He gave them an unpleasant smile.

A chorus of "Hell no, Sergeant!" almost deafened me.

"Good to know you have the situation in hand."

"Kira, you have an appointment in medical. There will be no more similar unpleasantries." I stated, stating at the trio of suspected Blue Cosmos troopers. "See to it, Sergeant."

"With pleasure, sir. You three look like your quite bored…" He trailed off. "There is some heavy lifting with your names stamped on it in Hangar Three."

**=GSI=**

**Command Center**

**EF Fortress Artemis**

Natarle and her fellow officers were escorted to finally meed the base's Commander. To their mild surprise, the meeting occurred in the cavernous command center instead in his office. The fact that the place was a hive of barely managed chaos didn't bode well. One glance at the far wall, which was covered with monitors told them why. There was a hive of red dots, representing ZAFT units approaching.

"Here you are." A LC met them halfway. "I'm Jack Harper, the ONI Officer assigned to this facility."

Mu groaned, winning himself a dirty look from the two females. "What's with all the spooks lately?"

"Someone has to find the enemy and point you space squids in the right direction." Harper quipped. "Follow me." He nodded at the soldiers that had been escorting the Archangel's officers and the troopers moved back to the entrance.

Harper led them to the center of the room, where a small platform rose above the rest of the work-stations. There they met the Commandant and Veil, who were chatting like old friends.

"Sir!" Natarle stood up straighter and saluted, followed a moment later by her fellow Lieutenants.

"At ease. We don't have time for the dog and pony show." Garcia grumbled. "As you can see, we have a mutual problem."

"The ZAFT fleet." Mu stated the obvious. "What are you planning to do, Sir?"

"After Lieutenant Veil briefed us on the Blitz's capabilities it became crystal clear that Artemis is no longer defensible."

"Are we getting the supplies we need, sir?" Ramius asked.

"Yes. You've got about twenty hours to resupply as well as load a squadron of interceptors. Then the fleet elements stationed here will sortie and eliminate the ZAFT forces heading our way before escorting the Archangel back to Earth."

That caught the three of them off guard. They were ready to argue their point and beg for supplies and clearance to depart. Instead, this. She glanced at Veil, who had a smirk on his face. How the hell did he arrange this?!

"That's not all, is it? Sir." Natarle asked. She knew that expression rather well.

"While the Lieutenant here," Garcia nodded at Ramius. "Will retain command of the Archangel, I will be coming on board and commanding the battle from there. I've been made to understand that your ship has the necessary command and control facilities."

"Ah, yes. The Archangel is fully equipped Flag vessel as well." Ramius stammered.

"Excellent. The quartermaster will meet you at the dock. Coordinate with him and get the ship fully stocked for combat. Dismissed. Lieutenant La Flaga, stay back."

"Sir, yes Sir!" Natarle saluted and gave Veil a pointed look, which he promptly ignored.

"This way." Harper waved them to follow and headed towards the exit.

**=GSI=**

Mu glanced at Veil, wondering how he pulled his latest stunt, when Garcia cleared his throat. The Lieutenant returned his attention to the base's commander.

"La Flaga, you and Veil are the last remaining members from the Moebus squadron. I need you to coordinate and lead our small craft forces. Artemis has five full wings stationed on board, not counting the compliments of the ships stationed here."

"Depending on the enemy composition, that might be enough." Mu muttered, entering professional mode.

"Divide our forces in two. One, the larger group will be tasked with suppressing enemy Mobile Suits. The other will execute anti-shipping strikes." Veil suggested.

"Risky. Though it might work." Mu muttered.

"If you can keep their infernal Mobile Suits away from my ships, we should be able to deal with their fleet. Naturally it would be appreciated if you damn fly boys can for once turn the tables and let the enemy worry about something other than our main guns." Garcia added his two cents.

"Before deciding anything we need to know what exactly we have to work with."

"The Wing and squadron commanders will be meeting us in one of the conference rooms in half an hour."

"What are we waiting for?" Mu asked.

"Lieutenant La Flaga, I already got Veil's assessment of that pet coordinator of yours. Now I want your too."

"Ah." Mu licked his suddenly dry lips. For all he knew, Garcia was had become or always was a damn Blue Cosmos. Saying the wrong thing could be bad for the three of them. Besides, he didn't know what tale Delkatar has been spinning. "Kira is a nice kid, who would not have sat behind the controls if his friends lives weren't on the line. That said, in his short time in the cockpit, hes proven himself to be a natural pilot, getting better after each engagement."

"Short and to the point. Good. Veil gave me much the same assessment, though he praised the kid's ability to make the so called OS of the G-Weapon usable. At least by a Coordinator." Garcia paused. "What do you think are the chances that he will pilot the Strike in the coming battle?"

"Low unless his friends well being is on the line." Veil immediately answered.

Mu gave his friend a startled look. What the hell was he doing?

"That won't be a problem. The civilians will stay on the Archangel. Without the garrison and with ZAFT having the data on the Blitz its only a matter of time before Artemis falls. I'm not going to surrender the base, but instead I'll leave a volunteer force who will fight to the end, costing the enemy as much material as possible. It will be a no place for civies." Garcia stated.

Mu started at the pair. So not exactly a blackmail but too damn close for comfort.

"With a bit of luck, Kira might not have to fight after this battle." Veil shrugged. "It will depend if another enemy force will be able to intercept us before we meet with the leading elements of Seventh fleet. Its unfortunate that thanks to the N-Jammers we don't have reliable communication channels with Earth and can't simply transmit the data they lack before we are much closer."

"Indeed. That would make our lives a bit easier." The Commandant nodded. "You two have a meeting to attend. Go."

**=GSI=**

**Corridor near the Command Center**

**EF Fortress Artemis**

"Ensign, make yourself scarce for a bit. I need to have a private talk with Lieutenant Veil." Mu ordered our guide, a fresh out of the academy nugget, who apparently was on his first posting.

The young officer gulped, opened his mouth to argue but a glare from La Flaga silenced him. He nodded towards a nearby door and walked a bit down the corridor, giving us some privacy. We entered the compartment, which was a small briefing room. I smiled. It was obviously that Mu was dying for some answers.

He shut the door behind us and fixed me with his patented stare. Yeah that one. The Stare that was reserved for subordinates that had screwed by the numbers and were showing no inclination of stopping anytime soon. Let me tell you, being on the receiving end wasn't fun. Even when La Flaga wasn't my commander any longer.

"Delkatar, what the fuck did you do? Seriously!?"

"My bloody job. Now we have much higher chance of reaching Earth intact."

"How much did you tell Garcia?"

"Enough."

"That's not reassuring."

"It wasn't meant to be, Mu. I have orders to follow. Without the data we are carrying it would take Earth moths to start mass producing Mobile Suits, which will still be quite useless because they don't possess an OS that can be utilized by anyone but a Coordinator. Even then it has to be partially rewritten beforehand as Kira demonstrated. By the time we have our own MS corps ready in sufficient numbers, ZAFT will have upgraded their forces thanks to the suits and data they stole. If we are lucky. If not, they will field a limited number of advanced designs soon and might win the damn war before we can properly utilize our industrial and manpower advantages."

La Flaga winced. No matter what the propaganda said, he knew the truth. We had the numbers, just not enough of them to offset the quality of ZAFT forces, especially in space. If they could field a limited number of Gundams and take completely orbital superiority before EA could field its own Mobile Suit corps…

"You briefed him on the Blitz and the other G-Weapons." Mu thought aloud. "Even with that information he might have decided just to sortie his fleet out and have them keep defensive positions around the base, waiting for the Blitz to attack and hope to take it down. He hasn't faced the new Mobile Suits, thinking that he can take it out conventionally would be a reasonable conclusion. Doing so would have given him sufficient time to study the Archangel and Strike. It would have been a risk worth taking. Unless..." He stared at me. "You gave him the G-Weapons schematics."

I nodded.

"Now he has an incentive to get at least one ship near Earth and transmit it to the EF."

"And we get an escorting fleet. Its a bargain."

He opened his mouth then snapped it shut. "You are a Eurasian officer too." Mu stated, as if he had forgotten that little fact."

"All the more reason for Garcia to listen." I smiled.

"You suspect that the AF won't share the data, keeping an edge against them, allies or no."

"The Atlantic Federation and its brass isn't a major concern by itself. After all we've been nominal allies for a long time. Its Blue Cosmos and the increasing influence they have on your government's policy making that are concerning. For both Eurasia and the Earth Alliance ONI."

"That's why ONI sent you. To get the information to the Eurasian Federation."

"Among other things." I shrugged.

Someone knocked on the door. Most likely our guide.

"It's time to meet the local fly boys."

"We'll continue this later." Mu nodded and unlocked the door.


	8. Chapter 4 Part 4

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.****

**AN: This update was cleaned up by Uriel with some additions from AkumaOuja, on the Space Battle's forums. Thank you for the great work!**

**=GSI=**

**Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed**

**Part 4**

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Conference room A-3**

**EF Fortress Artemis**

I have to hand it to Mu, the fella knows how to put up a show. La Flaga led the way, striding in the conference room as if he owned the place. The moment we entered the various conversations hushed, uneasy silence falling upon the room.

"Oh, shit. It's La Flaga!" someone in the back rows exclaimed. "We're fucked."

"Your reputation precedes you, mate." I grinned and waved at the assembled pilots. "Don't worry folks, no repeats of Endymion."

"Ah. So we are going to get killed for no gain this time?" asked the same anonymous voice. "Swell."

"We can always use a volunteer for the front ranks of the little operation we are planning." Mu quipped.

Few uneasy chuckles answered him.

The thing about reputation like his, it's great on recruitment posters. But for those in the know, the picture was different. Yeah, Mu became a Legend at Endymion. He also lost his whole squadron in the process and Moebius Zero was made from the best Aces in the EA. Me being a bloody Revenant was the exception of the rule. So the pilots in here, despite generally being a bunch of arrogant bastards with egos to match, didn't really feel suicidal. The fact that in every single engagement our Mobile Armors were getting their assess handled to them by ZAFT didn't really help.

So here we were, a genuine Hero and the animated corpse of another. Naturally, the locals were feeling apprehensive. They didn't feel like dying and I can't say I blame them. It was too bad that soon a lot of them would be on their way to Valhalla.

Mu stiffened for a moment, looking pensive, before shaking himself and getting back in the correct head space. Obviously he was aware what Artemis' pilots were thinking. For all I knew he agreed with them.

"Eh. Let's cut to the chase, shall we?"

"We all know Lieutenant La Flaga. I'm Lieutenant Delkatar Veil, for those of you who are wondering, the second survivor from Moebius Zero. So you can all chill out. The odds of making it when flying side by side with Mu here," I waved at him, "Are better than the scuttlebutt might have let you to believe. Trust me, I've been doing that a lot and I'm still in one piece."

"Mostly." Mu quipped, winning a bit of relieved laughter from the crowd. "Now, the two of us are aware that some of you happen to outrank us." He became serious and turned his attention to the Wing commanders. "Nevertheless, Commandant Garcia believes that is prudent if Lieutenant Veil and myself plan the Mobile Armor part of impending battle."

"We do have a bit of experience dealing with Mobile Suits." I added.

"We are facing the fleet that has been keeping an eye on you – four Laurasia frigates, with full Ginn compliments. Recently they got reinforced with one more ship of the same type. While her MS load out is largely unknown, we believe that it carries at least one of four experimental weapon platforms that were stolen from a secret facility of ours on Heliopolis."

While Mu was explaining the situation I went to the computer terminal connected with the big monitor on the wall behind us and placed a data drive in it. It contained info on the Gundams, something that our pilots would need if they were to stand any chance in the battle to come.

"Best case scenario, we'll be facing only this unit and an additional Wing of Ginns. This, ladies and gentlemen is the X-207 Blitz."

Said Gundam appeared on the screen behind me.

"I want one of those," shouted an enthusiast.

"When we manage to get back to Earth and give the data our ship is transporting to the brass, we'll have mass produced variants in no time."

"That's certainly a way to get their attention." Mu muttered after glancing at the assembled pilots.

Most of them had wishful expressions on their faces. And were those two in the back drooling?

"I won't bullshit you. Destroying that ZAFT fleet is a means to an end. The Archangel and the data she carries needs to get to Earth, yesterday. This is made vital because ZAFT did steal four of the prototypes and a lot of information. I don't need to tell you what will happen if they are able to improve their Mobile Suits even further before ours are out of the assembly lines." Mu continued.

Grim silence answered him.

"Now you know the score. Facing ZAFT Mobile Suits with Moebius armors is bad enough. Unfortunately, if we are unlucky, they will field all four stolen units against us."

"They are much better than what the enemy has been fielding, I take it?" One of the Wing leaders, a Captain, asked.

"Each of the prototype weapons can take on multiple Ginns single handedly and win."

"Fuck."

"Oh, it get's better. All of those four units are protected by Phase Shift armor. Which means that a solid hit won't take any of them out." I smiled at the pilots. "Forcing any of those machines out of the battle will take multiple hits in order to drain their energy reserves. Destroying them will be much harder."

"The mission already sounds like a jolly old suicide run," one of the Wing Commanders stated. "Yet, you don't appear to be particularly worried about it."

"Both La Flaga and me, faced those weapons multiple times and we are still here. This time we won't be outnumbered and outgunned." I smiled viciously. "Besides we have a few advantages I intend to leverage."

"Pray tell."

"We all know what happens when our Mobile Armors engage conventionally ZAFT forces. Well, we won't be doing that. This isn't the start of the war when we were unaware of the enemy's capabilities, which are significant. You all know what happened in the opening engagements. Our anty-mobile suit doctrine was and still is largely experimental. Hell, we all are writing the book on how to deal with ZAFT, while having to use inferior hardware against the bastards." I added a bit of bloodlust to my expression. "Here is what we are going to do..."

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**AF Archangel**

**EF Fortress Artemis**

"We are almost done, Ma'am." said the station's Quartermaster, one Captain Bail Maindhoff. "Only the gear needed to service your new Moebius squadron remains. It should be loaded within the hour."

"That's great, sir." Acting Captain Ramius sighed with relief. They were going to make the deadline with few hours to spare, which meant that the crew could get a bit of shut eye before all hell broke loose.

"Ma'am, Commandant Garcia and party just came aboard. They would like to meet you at your earliest convenience," Maindhoff said.

"I'll meet him in Conference room A. Please send one of the Archangel's marines to escort them in."

"No problem. There are few of your leathernecks around."

"Ensign, any idea what your old friend is doing?" Ramius asked her acting CO.

"No, Ma'am. I haven't heard from Veil since we saw him in the Command center."

"He's certainly been a great help so far, however I don't trust him after his latest stunts. He just came out of nowhere, just as the attack was starting..." Ramius trailed off and shook her head in exasperation. "A dead man walking, if what you and La Flaga are telling me. A bloody spook to boot. Who is he working for anyway? ONI? The Earth Alliance brass?"

"Perhaps. Or for the Eurasian Federation. He is one of their officers..." Badriguel muttered.

"You have the Conn," Ramius stated and stood up. "As for you, she turned to the kids and few experienced NCO's manning the bridge, "The show's over. Continue training for another hour and get a bit of bunk time. We'll be busy shortly."

"I have the Conn, Aye, Ma'am." Natarle answered.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Crew Quarters**

**AF Archangel**

**EF Fortress Artemis**

While Garcia was holding a briefing for the warship captains, I went to see Kira. Unless ZAFT sent all stolen Gundams against us, we should be able to handle their fleet. However, his participation in the coming battle would significantly decrease the number of casualties on our side.

I found Kira in his quarters, which to my surprise were guarded by an armed marine.

"At ease, Corporal. Is the kid in? Second, what did he do to warrant your presence?"

"He's resting, Sir! Doctor's orders. The Skipper ordered us to keep a watch over him when she learned what happened..." he trailed off. Apparently he was reluctant to mouth off about that imbecile of a commander in front of another officer, though he undoubtedly knew I was one of the reasons why the blonde wonder hasn't been seen around the Archangel ever since the Mess Hall incident.

"Good. The kid has a knack for getting himself into trouble. Carry on."

"Yes, Sir!"

I went to the door and pressed the chime. Soon enough a sleepy sounding voice came over the intercom.

"Yes? Who is it?"

"It's Veil. We need to talk."

"Oh. Come in."

The door slid open, revealing Kira. He looked a bit worse for wear, with a quite big bruise on the side of his face.

"Ouch. Bruised jaw?"

"Yeah. Before you came, that bastard slugged me pretty good."

"He's being dealt with." I smirked.

After all, Garcia needed a volunteer to lead the planned last stand of Artemis.

Kira nodded and went back to his bed, waving me to sit on the bunk across his.

"First, as an Officer of the Eurasian Federation's Armed Forces, I need to apologize. What that… Commander, did was reprehensible. It should never have happened on a station under our control."

The kid was quiet for a few moments, before glaring at me. "It did happen." He took a deep breath. "I don't want to think what would have happened if you didn't interfere then and there."

"One of the marines would have called Garcia and that with a bit of luck that idiot who assaulted you would be in even bigger trouble. On the other hand, by then you would have been roughed up a bit." I glanced at his jaw. "A bit more."

"So that makes it right?"

"No. Unfortunately, even among us there are some bad apples who buy in the bullshit of Blue Cosmos. Command has been trying to weed them out for years, though our 'friends' in the AF and their example isn't exactly helping."

"Damn it! What's with Earth and those maniacs?!" he exclaimed.

"Hey! ZAFT's finest aren't exactly showering themselves with prizes for the most tolerant folks out there!" I quipped.

"No. At least if ORB's news networks are to be believed."

"They are one of the few where you can catch a bit of truth on the air."

"So both sides had lost their minds and trying to wipe each other out?"

"Fortunately the maniacs aren't in charge, yet. If you discount some of the AF politicians. Still, for the time being they aren't running the show by themselves."

"You could have fooled me."

"To be fair the war is making it worse for everybody. It's easy to hate the enemy who's been killing your mates. Even when you aren't Blue Cosmos."

"Yet you don't hate Coordinators."

"No. I do have a bone to pick with ZAFT though and all their members are ones. They did kill me after all." I shook my head. "Since the war started, most people stopped making a distinction between Coordinators and ZAFT."

"So they blame my people for the military's actions. Though there are plenty of us in the few places like ORB, who have nothing to do with the war."

"Them's the breaks, kid." I shrugged. "The fact that ZAFT often tries to speak for all Coordinators, even those who aren't citizens of their colonies doesn't help either. However, discussing the current political situation isn't why I'm here."

"You want me to fight again." Kira stated after a moment of silence.

"Preferably. It's not like either Garcia or me are going to try stuffing you into the Strike."

"However?" Kira raised an eyebrow. He was becoming a bit genre savvy the little bugger.

"We'll be engaging the fleet which has been keeping an eye on Artemis. We approached from such a vector they never stood a chance of intercepting us on our way in. However, now they are coming in hot."

"This place is a Fortress, with a capital 'F'. Why should we fight in the first place?"

"The Blitz." I stated. Then I saw Kira's empty look. Oh. He wasn't briefed on the Mirage Cloud system. "That MS has an active stealth system so it could easily land on the surface while the Lightwave barrier is shut down. As you can guess, the system isn't meant to be turned on indefinitely."

"So they'll wait until it has to shut down for either maintenance or malfunction and it will sneak in, disabling it?" Kira asked.

"Indeed. Besides it's not like we can afford to wait here. The Archangel does need to get back to Earth. Which creates a bit of dilemma. You are a bright kid, figure it out."

Kira frowned. "By now ZAFT would have gathered data on the Blitz, they won't send it in otherwise."

"Good. And the implications of that are?"

"This place is indefensible in the long run." He paused. "The Commander of this place, Garcia was it, he won't simply abandon it to ZAFT."

"No. He will leave a skeleton crew of volunteers, who will fight to the last before scuttling the place. There will be no refugee for your friends or the rest of the civilians here."

"You are one underhanded bastard." Kira looked at me. There was both admiration and disgust in his eyes.

I shrugged. "Am I manipulating you, using the truth? The answer to that is yes."

Kira stared, not expecting such a blunt addmition.

"What would you have me do, Kira? Do you think I like suggesting that a kid pilots a war machine and places his life on the line? Its fucking bullshit!" I exclaimed, a my old personality coming to the surface. Sending kids to war was bullshit, no mater where and when you were. It was just that, sometimes the alternatives were worse.

"That doesn't change the facts. The Archangel will be leading the fight and the civilians will be on board. After the battle all ships that are still space worthy will make best speed for Earth. It's up to you to decide what to do, Kira." I stood up and left him pondering on my words.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Pilot Briefing room**

**AF Archangel**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Officer on deck!" Master Sergeant Levaler shouted, when Mu and I entered the Ready room.

"At ease, folks." La Flaga waved the pilots down. "With the circus that's been the last day and so, we never got a chance to be officially introduced. You obviously know who we are," he nodded at the pair of men in the back. "I remember you two quite well from the briefing yesterday."

"Drooling at the possibility to be in the cockpit of your own Mobile Suits." I shook my head, a grin plastered on my face. "As someone who's piloted one I have this to say..." I trailed off, having their complete attention. "It plain sucks!" I exclaimed.

Next to me Mu face-palmed, while the members of Dagger Squadron, our own brand new nuggets, groaned. The poor bastards were thrown out of the academy without even getting the lowest Officer rank in the EA's space navy – ensign. That was because after the first few months of the war, some REMF genius with political connections had noticed how many officers were being slaughtered while piloting Moebius Armors. I have no idea how the brass (and our own MA mafia) agreed to the change, but the new graduates with few exceptions for truly awesome pilots, now came out as NCO's. Needless to say that made everyone in the navy pissed off, though that policy was still in effect of the time I left Earth and headed for Heliopolis.

"He's kidding. Mostly..."

"Hey, if you want to try piloting the Dragon in MS configuration before Kira has rewritten the damn OS, be my guest. The damned thing handles worse than a cargo hauler. Totally useless in combat in that role. Thanks God that the designers royally messed up and actually and it can transform in a decent MA."

"Sir, let me get this right… You not only have a fucking Mobile Suit, but it can also transform into a Mobile Armor, Right?" The Master Sergeant asked.

I gave him a firm nod, while Mu was watching the show.

"Yep. And I'm still bitching. Let me tell you something. It's a pure damned luck that the Dragon actually works as it is. It started as a concept for a next-gen Mobile Armor, which was slatted to replace the Moebius and put us on even ground with ZAFT. Some design creep and crazy experimenting later, we have an over-engineered and too complex for its good prototype, which while an excellent machine by itself, fails in its primary function – to be the testbed for a mass produced MS/MA weapon system. The fact that we actually got not only a working prototype, but a proof of concept for better MA that should be mass producible is nothing less than a miracle." I shook my head.

That particular little revelation had dawned on me only presently, after I became mostly accustomed to the unholy chemical cocktail that was running through my veins and my mind ceased to be clouded all the time.

Shrugging, I discarded the thought. There were twelve green pilots in the room, including the Master Sergeant, who at least had seen and survived combat. Twice… The only bright thing I could see in the situation was that there were only four squadrons of brand new pilots on Artemis, the rest had seen the war firsthand during the opening engagements, before the Fortress was mostly isolated by ZAFT forces. It was easy to see why the rawest of the new pilots were assigned to us too. With two genuine Aces on board the Archangel, the colonel in overall command of the MA units on Artemis had decided to dump them on us in vague hope that we might keep at least some of them alive. At least that was the official reason. Keeping the greenhorns' inevitable screw ups from killing some of his people and letting them be our problem was a big part of his decision cycle. I had no doubt of that.

"I have a good and a bad news, folks." Mu stated. "Which do you want first?"

"The good one, Sir." Levaler grunted.

"Smart man." I grinned at the Sergeant, who remained impassive.

"Despite the rumor mill, we two reprobates, won't be throwing you at ZAFT Mobile Suits so they can use you for target practice!" Mu beamed at them.

A few looked relieved, while the Master Sergeant narrowed his eyes at us. Sharp man.

"Instead, you will be following my good friend here and going Laurasia hunting."

"Indeed. There aren't enough of those mounted on my trophy wall, so I want five more."

"Uh, huh." Levaler muttered and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

The pair who really wanted to pilot Mobile Suits grew pale too, showing that they had good heads on their shoulders. The other pilots looked around, clearly wondering what was the problem.

The Master Sergeant opened his eyes and shook his head at most of his subordinates. "We'll have to make it through the bulk of the enemy Mobile Suits first, then through their ships CSP, if the arrogant bastards have any, then execute an attack run at fully prepared squadron of Laurasia frigates. Those ships are rather tough nuts to crack in the first place. Next, whoever make it, will have to survive the fire of the enemy capital ships that remain after our attack and all their Mobile Suits. Because by that point they will be pissed off and out for our blood."

"In a nutshell." I gave them a sage nod.

"Let's dispense with the gloom and doom for a moment. After all, my friend here is a bit of pessimist. Everyone says that." Mu stage whispered the latter.

"I prefer realist." I mock sniffed.

"Please ignore him. Let's start with you two jokers. Yes, you two in the back."

"I'm Sergeant Sean Anderson," A raven haired youth spoke with a thick Scottish accent.

"I'm Adrian Amicar," The second offender stood up, introducing himself...

**=GSI=**

* * *

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

"That can't be right..." The Sensor Operator muttered.

Commodore Wilhelm Brown, the commander of the small Task Force ordered to deal with Artemis and the so called "Legged" ship, frowned at his subordinate.

"Lieutenant Holden, shape up and report properly." He calmly ordered. In the same time his fingers were busy calling the sensor data to his own terminal.

"Sir, there must be a sensor glitch. My station is showing multiple heat blooms at Atrtemis' docks!"

After looking at the data for few seconds, Brown shook his head. "The sensors are fine, Lieutenant. The enemy ships are sortieing to meet us."

"In open combat?!" Holden exclaimed. "That's suicide."

The Commodore closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. After the first few months of the war passed, colored by incredible victories, ZAFT's military had started to change. For the worse. A lot of people had caught the Victory disease, making it worse by claiming that those early battles were won because of innate superiority over the Naturals.

"Is it? Apparently Intel was wrong and Commandant Garcia isn't an arrogant idiot." Unlike you, he didn't add. "Undoubtedly the Archangel's Captain had briefed him on the Blitz's capabilities. Just waiting for us invites the destruction of his mobile forces in their docks where they are useless. By offering us a battle, he can hope to achieve two things. First some degree of attrition in our forces and more importantly, buying time for the Archangel to flee. When that ship separates from their battle-group, we'll have to detach a part of our forces, sending them in pursuit. That has obvious implications."

"But sir, even down a ship or two, with their Ginn wings, we can handle them easily!" The Lieutenant exclaimed, proving to all with a modicum of intelligence that he was a fucking idiot.

Just like at least a half of Brown's command.

The Commodore sighed. Ironically, Holden was right in a sense. ZAFT had overwhelming technological superiority at the moment thanks to their Mobile Suits. Further, after the disastrous defeats that EA suffered in the beginning of the war, they were short on experienced pilots. On the face of it, that by itself should be enough to guarantee them victory. However, those facts bred arrogance, making a lot of ZAFT personnel take risks that otherwise would be suicidal and emerge victorious. The worst was that they were underestimating the enemy.

Which was particularly bad in this case. Not because he expected to lose the battle. Thanks to the Ginns under his command, he had overwhelming superiority for the inevitable confrontations. However, if his subordinates fucked up, seeking glory or otherwise messing around, the Archangel might slip out of his grasp… If that ship made it to Earth, the EA would be able to field their own Mobile Suits that much faster. Perhaps even soon enough to turn the tide of the war which would be disaster for PLANT..."

"All units, battle-stations. I want _Hawkings _and _Sagan _ready to detach from the task force and head in pursuit of the _Archangel_ when that ship makes a run for it. The rest of us will deal with the enemy units that are forming to meet us in open engagement. Lieutenant Amalfi will transfer to the _Hawkings _and take tactical command on the MS detachment leading the chase."

At least the kid had a good head on his shoulders and wasn't a glory hound like the rest of Le Creuset's team. In fact he was better in that regards than the majority of MS pilots stationed on those two vessels. That's why he was transferring him over there. He would have preferred getting the job done himself, but considering the what imbecile had been in command of the task force covering Artemis, he was loathe to leave the man in charge of the engagement. He was liable to kill a lot more ZAFT soldiers than necessary.

Which wasn't particularly surprising considering that the man had been sent to this supposedly calm front just for that reason. He hasn't been expected to face combat out here, at least before the whole Heliopolis fiasco. That's why Brown was sent here, beyond the need for someone to transport the Blitz and its pilot. Command in a rare bout of logical thinking had determined that someone competent was needed in charge.

Brown glanced at the Sensor Operator who had thankfully shut up, regretting that there had been no time to transfer him off his ship before heading on this mission. He idly wondered if the EA forces had to deal with such boneheads in their chain of command too, while the Battle Stations alarms started blaring at full force.


	9. Chapter 4 Part 5

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.****

**AN: This part was betaed by Death By Chains and stromturmoil on the Space Battle forums. Thank you very much for the great work!**

**Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed**

**=GSI=**

**Part 4**

* * *

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

"New thermal bloom near Artemis!" Lieutenant Holden exclaimed.

Commodore Brown relaxed in his chair. Garcia finally played his hand. He glanced at the tactical plot. The EF battle-group was advancing towards his ships in a tight formation, their hulls obscuring the space behind them. If he didn't know better, he would have assumed that they were intent to sacrifice themselves as live shields so the Archangel, the most powerful ship in their disposal could get into effective range of his Task Force. It would be a cold blooded, but effective tactic… If the Legged ship was actually there. However Brown knew that the EA's newest carrier was too valuable an asset to risk in this engagement, even if the enemy stood reasonable chance of victory. The logical course of action was that this engagement was going to be a feint, with Garcia sacrificing his mobile units in order to buy time for the Archangel to escape.

Unfortunately for the Naturals, he saw right through it.

"Hawkings and Sagan, vector to intercept the Archangel, flank speed. The rest of the Task Force, launch Mobile Suits and enter formation Beta One. I want this done by the numbers. No unnecessary stunts or heroics. Mobile Suit wings Red and Victor, concentrate on enemy MA assets. Luna Wing will execute anti-shipping strikes.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Joakim Koh's Ginn**

**ZAFT Forces Red Wing Leader**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"All squadrons, sound off," Colonel Koh's calm voice sounded in the cockpits of his wing mates. He switched the channel, "Bayonet Squadron, give me a status report."

Under normal circumstances, he would have had another officer in charge of his first squadron, but thanks to ZAFT being stretched rather thin, he had to wear more than one hat.

"Bayonet Two, all systems green!" Ron Olsen, his squadron's XO answered.

"Bayonet Three, is nominal," Vilma Lopes, the youngest member of his wing stated in a crisp, academy trained tone. The kid was only sixteen, yet ready and willing to protect her home against those damn Naturals.

"Bayonet Four..."

Few moments later, his squadron commanders answered, after getting the words of their subordinates.

"Red Two, in the green!" Theo Wolfie, the commander of Lancer Squadron answered

"Red Three, lock and loaded!" Akira Hoshi, Spear Squadron's leader added a moment later.

"Good. Bastion Actual, Red One. All Red elements are in the green, over."

"Red One, Bastion Actual. Enemy MA are accelerating to engage you away from their battle line. You are cleared to engage and suppress. Good hunting." Commodore Brown ordered.

"Wilco. Red One, engaging." Koh switched channels, "Red Wing, we are a go. Don't forget that while those tin cans the enemy is using are mostly useless, we are outnumbered almost six to one. So watch your backs, stay with your wing mates and lets clean their clocks!"

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Flag Bridge**

**AF Archangel**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"I'll be damned!" Harper exclaimed. "It actually worked!" The ONI Commander grinned. "Two Laurasia frigates are detaching from the enemy Task Force and heading after the decoy. Designating them Bravo One."

"Good. Now if they only fly on that vector for five more minutes..." Garcia murmured.

Just a few minutes, that was all he was asking for. It would mean that his forces would have overwhelming numerical superiority during the initial engagement, something that was going to be vital against ZAFT's MS. So he had to play the deception to the hilt.

"Overlord Actual to all fleet elements, increase speed to Flank and start launching Mobile Armors." While it was technically too early to do so, he hoped to use the increased thermal emissions of the engines and the movement of his small craft in order to confuse the enemy's sensors for just a bit longer. 'Come on, you bastard' Garcia thought at the enemy commander, 'I'm showing you exactly what you expect to see…'

Every second in which those two frigates and more importantly, the Mobile Suits they were carrying, got farther and farther away, felt like eternity. Now it was a race, between the EF's ECM and the performance his people were displaying for the enemy's benefit, versus ZAFT's sensors and more importantly the people manning them. He was praying that their characteristic arrogance was in play today, giving his men and women the edge they desperately needed.

The seconds became nerve wracking minutes of starring in the sensor displays, until...

"Bravo continues on away vector! They just crossed the red line!" Harper shouted.

Garcia sagged in relief, a small smile appearing on his face. It was done. Those two ships wouldn't be a factor in the initial engagement. They wouldn't be able to decelearate and turn around in time.

"My Compliments to Captain Ramius. Lieutenant La Flaga and the Gundams are cleared to Launch. Overlord Actual to all fleet elements. We are going with Alpha One. Gods speed!"

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**AF Archangel**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Acknowledged, Overlord Actual." Ramius spoke softly in her comm. "Here we go." She added quietly. "Launch Mobile Suits and Armor. Helm, bring us up fifteen degrees and clear firing lanes. XO, I want firing solutions on the leading Laurasia."

"Aye, Ma'am." Badriguel answered crisply and started frantically typing on her console.

Nearby, Mirallia, the girl who was acting as MS controller spoke into her mic: "Mobile Suits and Armor are cleared to launch,"

Natarle was surrounded by a motley crew of barely trained civilians, experienced NCOs and a few officers the rest of the short handed ships stationed on Artemis could spare were busy preparing the ship for the inevitable Mobile Suit attacks. Even with the overwhelming numbers of Mobile Armors their battle-group had, she had no illusions about what was going to happen. The damned Ginns simply outclassed their mainline units that much…

"Moebius Zero, Mu La Flaga launching!" The Lieutenant's voice sounded from the loudspeakers near the Captains chair.

"X-311 Dragon, Delkatar Veil launching!" came a moment later.

Natarle stiffened for a brief moment, when she heard the voice of the man she once loved. Perhaps she still did… though she wondered if he ever left Endymion. The person she met on Heliopolis… He had the same face, the voice that pulled on her heartstrings… The same mannerism even, yet he was different. Changed. Nat glanced at the front of the ship before returning to her task. She desperately wanted, needed the truth. To know if her lover actually survived that battle or if this was an empty shell wearing his face. Because of that she needed him to survive and came back. Just like he promised before Endymion…

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-311 Dragon and Dagger Squadron**

**In the vicinity of Artemis**

The sudden acceleration slammed me into my seat, the length of the Archangel's linear accelerator flashed before my eyes and I was out, in the starlit void. My Mobile Armor flew over the starboard of a Nelson, the Myrmidon. Around me, Space was cramped with metal. From the distinctive forms of the dozen small Drake escorts, to the three battleships concentrating the bulk of our firepower and the swarms of Moebius armors, which flew in squadron formation, making a wall around the capital ships… just incidentally screwing with ZAFT's sensor resolution for a few more moments.

"This is Knight. Dagger and Andromeda squadrons, form on me." I spoke calmly in my comm. My veins were ice cold, more thanks to the chemical cocktail racing through them, than any virtue of my own. I could feel my mind altering, sharping as my implants came on, leaving the standby mode. Which they stayed in when out of combat or other high-stress situations.

"Dagger One, roger that, Knight." Sergeant Levaler promptly answered.

"Andromeda One, Wilco." A female voice sounded in my earpiece, which was the other Squadron leader answering couple of seconds later.

"You all know the plan. The rest of Myrmidon's Wing will cover our approach, taking on any ZAFT units that come after us. We are going in full speed and not stopping for anything."

The plan was simple and brutal. Especially on our escorts. None of us harbored any doubt what would happen to them once the enemy caught wind of what we were attempting. We would have Mobile Suits crawling up our exhausts in no time.

"All Wings, Overlord Actual. Alpha One is a go! Execute! GO, go, go!" Garcia urged in our earpieces.

"You heard the man, kids. I'm on point. Form on me." I ordered and throttled up my engines, careful not to accelerate past the squadrons following me.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Moebius Zero**

**In the vicinity of Artemis**

"Delta Wing, stay as a close support for the fleet. You are to engage any Leakers. Alpha, Beta and Gama Wings, follow me. We are going to ruin ZAFT's day!" Mu exclaimed with cheerfulness he didn't feel. His trusted Zero rumbled contently around him as he accelerated to meet the enemy.

He was leading 108 Mobile Armors against a wave of 36 Ginns. Both forces appeared to be using similar tactics – sending their space superiority rigged units to clear the way for an anti-shipping strike. Mu's strike force outnumbered the enemy only three to one, far from enough to deal with the Ginns at hand… In conventional engagement. La Flaga's lips stretched in a smile that was unrecognizable on his usually easy going person. There was a good reason why the plan called for a whole wing to stay back and escort the ships. The Moebius squadrons kept on acceleration, not even attempting to slow down.

"We are entering missile range. Spread the formation. Even numbers, engage. Salvo fire." Mu ordered.

For this battle every Moebius, bar his, was equipped with two missile pods and a linear cannon.

Seconds later, half the Armors shot four missiles apiece, half of their combat load.

Five seconds later, he ordered the odd numbers to repeat the exercise. Before the two forces entered gun range of each other, four waves made of two hundred and sixteen missiles streaked towards the leading ZAFT formation… homing in on only thirty six Mobile Suits, all the while the Moebius Armors kept on accelerating.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Joakim Koh's Ginn**

**ZAFT Forces Red Wing Leader**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"God damn them!" Koh swore. "Disperse! Engage anti-missile tactics!" He spat and pulled his Ginn in as steep climb. The machine gun in his Suit's hands rattled, HEAP rounds tracing a line towards the missile barrage tracking him.

The ZAFT formation few apart as their Mobile Suits began evasive maneuvers. The space around them lit with explosions as the leading missiles were shot down.

Koh glanced at his tactical display and swore again. It was obvious what the Naturals were going to do. Make a strafing run, coming in like screaming madmen on the trail of their missiles, then split and loop around, bleeding speed, before turning in for a general engagement. It would be a suicide for them… if he and his people didn't have to deal with the self guided ordinance coming their way.

Still, it was a tactic that the EA had used before. It would give them a brief advantage, but once the missiles were spent, those Mobile Armors would be dead meat, made even less maneuverable because of the pod's weight… because the system wasn't designed for ejection once the load-out was spent.

Koh shrugged. The enemy had someone marginally competent in charge after all. This tactic was the only one they had that would give them a marginal chance to hurt his force. So what? The Naturals didn't have the numbers to win anyway. All they were doing was prolonging the battle… He frowned. There were only hundred odd MA's racing his way. Granted, a part of their number would be back, covering their fleet… Ah.

"Bastion Actual, Red One. Be advised, there is enemy anti-shipping strike inbound, probably right behind their vanguard. Be advised, my force won't be able to intercept them in time."

"Red One, Bastion Actual, roger that." The Commodore paused for a moment. "Luna One, have half of your Wing discard strike packages and pull back to intercept anticipated enemy anti-shipping strike."

"Bastion Actual, Luna One, Wilco."

Koh hardly paid any attention to that side conversation. He was too busy avoiding or shooting down missiles, while making his Ginn dance madly. The Colonel had no doubt that he would make it through the missile spam intact. Unfortunately not all of his subordinates had his training and skills. Not to mention luck…

A screen on the left of his cockpit blinked red, heralding the death of the first Ginn. Koh gritted his teeth. He knew that more would follow in oblivion before the day was over.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Moebius Zero**

**In the vicinity of Artemis**

"One down!" someone shouted on the general frequency.

"Good work! We will be in gun range shortly. All units, saturation fire on my mark!" Mu ordered, his eyes never leaving the sensor screen.

ZAFT units were dying, more than they would have if the missile strikes were spread out over two additional enemy wings. Some of the Coordinators simply got unlucky, too many of the weapons homing on them, a few simply weren't that good despite the advantages their kind had.

They died all the same as shaped charges detonated, cracking their Mobile Suits open. Cockpits were flooded with short lived jets of plasma and molten metal, setting their pilots ablaze. Others, the lucky ones were simply turned to jerky by shock-waves or high velocity shrapnel.

It was a story Mu knew very well, one that soon be happening to Earth personnel too. Because they were almost in range and the ZAFT pilots were shooting down or evading the last missile barrage. La Flaga saw one last MS wink out from his display. It was time.

"Good work, people! Nine Ginns are down! Let's add to the count. MARK!" he shouted the last word. His fingers ran over the Zero' controls, Gun Funnels detaching and he followed his own order, pressing the triggers.

Linear accelerators spat high velocity pieces of metal, filling the space in front of the speeding Armors with death. The ZAFT forces were scrambling, some caught in bad spot after dealing with the missile strike. So they died. Hard. Ginns darted in impossible evasion maneuvers, achieving turns at accelerations that would make any normal human pilot black out. Incredible reflexes combined with simply impossible ability to multitask and the superior engineering and technology to turn what should have been a turkey shoot into anything but. The two forces were engaged for mere seconds, while the Moebius armors made their attack run and raced past the envelope…

Eleven more Ginns died in that time and twenty one Earth pilots joined their funeral pyres. Despite the loses, Mu was almost deafened by howls of triumph. He smiled briefly, allowing his pilots their jubilation. In a single pass, they had just achieved the best exchange ratio in Earth's favor since the war began.

He drove the Zero down, diving below his previous vector and bleeding speed.

It was a short lived lie of course. Most of the Armors had shot their silver arrows and now were easy prey, fit only to buy time. Mu would actually welcome the enemy's attention right now. It would mean that the remaining Ginns outfitted for space superiority combat won't go against the battle line's escorts to clean a path for their own strike.

On the other hand, there were now sixteen Ginns against ninety nine Earth units, including his own… He hoped that who ever was his ZAFT counterpart would decide that detaching some of his units wouldn't be advisable.

There was a ping on his sensor screen and he smiled. At any rate he had achieved his secondary objective. Veil and the strike he led were "above" the engagement zone, far enough to avoid an intercept.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Joakim Koh's Ginn**

**ZAFT Forces Red Wing Leader**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Koh snarled. More than half of his men and women were gone! The Naturals were splitting up in two groups and looping around for another engagement and he could finally see where their strike craft were located. They had pulled up when the missiles were launched and flew above the battle space. With those damn Armors of theirs being marginally faster, there was no hope of engaging them.

The Colonel gritted his teeth. All he wanted right now was to go out and slaughter the bastards that mauled his Wings. However his discipline won the battle with the fury burning in his heart. The MA swarm that he just faced was a spent force, all but that infernal Ace of theirs. Oh,Koh recognized who led them. After all, there weren't many Zeroes left. Mu Fucking La Flaga. So the Intel pukes were wrong again and the enemy Ace wasn't tucked in the Archangel running away.

He glanced at the screen showing the status of his forces. Victor was down to six MS, led by their XO. Their commander had been taken out during the melee.

"Victor two, you are covering Luna Wing. We'll deal with the enemy Armor. Do you copy?"

There were few second of terse silence, before Koh's comm cracked.

"Roger that." A gruff voice answered. "Kill some of those damn Naturals for us."


	10. Chapter 4 Part 6

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.****

****Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed****

****=GSI=****

**Part 6**

* * *

**X-311 Dragon**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Mobile suits approaching. Mark nine dash..." one of the pilots in our escort announced.

My eyes darted to the sensor screen and sure enough, faint echoes appeared just on the edge of the detection range. They were growing stronger by the moment.

"Where did they come from?" Major Tanya Rostov, Myrmidon Wing's CO asked in exasperation. "Even with extended hangars, you can't cram more than eighteen Ginns into a Laurasia. Perhaps nineteen if you are truly desperate!"

"This is actually a good news." I said with fake cheer in my voice.

"How so, Knight?" The Major asked.

"My educated guess is that those MS are from their anti-ship strike, diverted to intercept us. With those units coming our way, the fleet is safer."

"We definitely aren't." Rostov grumbled. "Antares and Sirius squadrons, form on me. We will intercept those Ginns. Knight, good luck. Go bag us few frigates." With those words she cut the connection. Seconds later her Moebius broke formation and headed towards the approaching enemy, followed by the rest of our escorts.

"Gods speed, Major. Come back in one piece." I muttered quietly.

Twenty four MA versus nine Ginns. Even armed with missile pods, the odds weren't in our favor. Especially when Rostov couldn't make a high speed run like Mu did few minutes ago. That would leave any MS that survived the initial engagement to come after us. Even worse, they were approaching at such vector that guaranteed them an intercept before we could strike the ZAFT frigates.

All I could do was watch my sensors and imagine the short, and vicious engagement. Four missile waves, followed by two thirds of Myrmidon wing going in, slow enough for a stand up fight. The Ginns obviously anticipated such a move, decelerated slowing down a bit the rate of approach with the ordinance flying their way, before opening fire.

Two massive explosions scrambled the view of the battle.

"Damn it. There had to be someone who knows what he is doing on the enemy's side, didn't it?" I hissed.

It was obviously what happened. At least one of the Ginns kept a part of the heavy weapons issued to it for the strike against our fleet and used them as makeshift anti-missile system. Those detonations would have messed up the first strike, perhaps scrambled the sensors of the second one too.

When my sensors managed to clean up the interference and sort out what was happening over there, the picture made me grit my teeth. Three Ginns were engaging the bulk of our escorts, two more were racing our way, while another was covering them against five Mobile Armors, which were in pursuit.

Fuck. The missile strike had taken out only three of the enemy Mobile Suits. Rostov and her people wouldn't be able to stop the pair of Ginns that were coming to intercept us. The sensor screen told me everything I needed to know. Those two machines would hit us in the flank just when we reach the Laurasias effective weapon range. To guarantee kills on those ships, the strike packages had to be deployed closer than that. We didn't have enough ordinance to overwhelm them from long range.

"Hound," I called Master Sergeant Levalier's call sign, "I'm going after those two party crashers. Concentrate each squadron on a single Laurasia. I'll make an attack run on the last ship if practical, or we'll leave the fleet to deal with it."

With my piece said, my right hand fell upon the throttle level and pulled it, acceleration pushing me back into my seat.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

"We've been had, gentlemen." Brown grumbled. "Recall Hawkings and Sagan. Helm alter course, forty five degrees to port and go to maximum acceleration. We'll rotate to face the enemy fleet when we are closer to effective weapons range."

For a few seconds there was stunned silence in the CIC, before the Coordinators hurried to obey the Commodore's orders.

"XO, call the Chief Engineer. Unless the detachment of Luna Wing gets very lucky, we'll be hit by at least an enemy squadron. There will be a lot of ship-killers coming our way. We should do something about it..."

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Joakim Koh's Ginn**

**ZAFT Forces Red Wing Leader**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

A short burst from his machine gun nailed a MA, shredding the fragile craft. His Ginn spun away from it's previous position, deftly guided by Koh's hands, avoiding a hyper-velosity penetrator. His fingers blurred over the controls, the MS jinking away from another shot, before turning in the direction the enemy fire was coming from. A pair of Moebius were flying straight at him.

Koh grinned savagely and flew to meet them. He avoided another two shots then pressed the trigger. His rounds tore the leading MA in two. It's wing mate tried to get out of the Colonel's sights, but it was futile. The Moebius was even more sluggish than ordinary thanks to the pods strapped on it, becoming another easy kill for the ZAFT Ace.

The Colonel glanced at the status of his Wing. He was down two more suits, however the enemy had paid a dear price for bringing them down. There were only sixty or so EA craft remaining. Even if the current exchange rate held, he should still have Mobile Suits left when the enemy force was annihilated.

Koh charged into the fray again. He had no intention of letting it go that bad for his Wing. So he had to kill more of the damn Naturals, before they could try returning the favor.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-105 Strike**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Kira, we have enemy Mobile Suits incoming. Command is vectoring Aegis Wing to intercept. You'll have to handle anyone who gets through." Miralia's familiar voice sounded from the Strike's comm.

"Ah. OK. I can totally do that!" he stammered.

"I know." There was something in her voice that sent a not unpleasant shiver up his spine. "I just want you to know that we believe in you! You can do it!"

Kira shrugged, dismissing the strange feeling. Girls. He was never going to get them…

Yamato returned his attention to the tactical map overplayed on his main view screen. Forty eight dots, representing Aegis Wing were racing ahead. Six crimson icons were heading straight at them, followed by another nine some distance away. Then his attention was caught by the fleet itself, which was shifting formation. The smaller ships, the Drake escorts, Kira reminded himself, were moving to interpose themselves before the enemy Mobile Suits and the four battleships making the core of the battle group.

It struck him then. Exactly what he was seeing. Men and women ready to lay down their lives for something they believed in. And incidentally or not to protect his friends on the Archangel by sacrificing themselves if it was needed.

Or to kill to achieve the same goal.

Kira's attention returned to the tactical plot after he heard an alarm going off. He blinked, looking at it in confusion. There were only forty two green dots left heading towards the enemy Mobile Suits and they were still out of effective weapons range… Moment later, the carefully arranged assault formation of Aegis squadron shattered as the Mobile Armors went evasive, just in time, because a moment later three more winked out of existence.

He switched on the Wing's general comm channel, wondering what the hell was happening. But before that, just in case, he made the Strike dance in erratic evasive pattern.

"...sneaky bastards." Someone was speaking through gritted teeth. "Those were guided missiles from their strike group, using those six in front for terminal guidance!"

"Bullshit! They aren't supposed to be able to do that!"

"Coordinators. Do I need to say more?" a third voice quipped.

"Enough joking around. We have a job to do." another, level-headed voice interrupted. "The plan remains the same. Each squadron concentrates on a single Ginn until it's dead. Rinse and repeat until they run out of Mobile Suits."

Kira could see the Moebius' reforming in four distinct groups and heading straight at the ZAFT forces.

What followed was short and vicious. The leading three Mobile Suits might have lived longer, if they hadn't tried to kill as many Mobile Armors as possible in the shortest amount of time. Kira frowned. Those ZAFT pilots were all Coordinators, so they had to know the score! Yet they all but sacrificed their lives… he blinked, looking at the plot.

Aegis was down to less than half strength, facing three MS, while the other nine were once more throwing guided missiles at them.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-311 Dragon**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

I had forgotten how vicious space combat could be. How friends and foe alike could vanish in the blaze of a dying craft, just in the blink of an eye. The engagements I fought ever since being dumped in here, were different. Much smaller affair, fought by Aces with incredible machines at their disposal. People who had both the skills and luck not to die easily.

Now I was reminded what the war was for the rank and file. What was for me when I piloted the Moebius Zero… When I died.

I breathed in slowly, trying to calm down my hammering heart. Even my implants weren't helping with that. Neither did seeing friendly icons disappearing from the tactical plot, nor the distant flashed of explosions caught by the Dragon's cameras. My enhanced perception made the anticipation even worse, almost stretching the seconds before I was engaged in combat.

I glanced at my hands, which were gripping the controls. If it wasn't for the implants they would be trembling right now. Hell, I could feel a slight tremor in them, yet my hands were mostly still. It felt weird.

Another alarm blared and I welcomed it. I was almost in range. No more time for pondering or second thoughts. A flick of a switch and the DRAGOON's detached, flying in a lazy formation around me. The approaching Ginns separated, obviously preparing to flank me. I smiled, and activated the Phase Shift armor, which I had let dormant until now, in order to preserve energy. Then I cut off the engines and began decelerating to meet the enemy. The range was steadily falling down, until an imaginary line was crossed and I pressed the triggers.

Iridescent beams of compressed particles left my weapons, blazing lines in the void. The ZAFT pilots were already evading, pushing their units to the limit. I followed suit, a stream of tracers flashing by my cockpit. So we starting dancing. Speed and armor matched against superior maneuverability…

Crimson beams and HEAP rounds crossed in the void, passing their targets by a hair-breadth. I frowned. Those two were good. Better than most ZAFT pilots I had faced before.

A burst hit my fuselage, shaking me. Or perhaps the man I now possessed had been a better pilot that simply getting his skills dumped into my head made me.

Well, if that was the case I would have to learn fast. Or die. Again.

Luckily I didn't need to shoot those two down any time soon. I just had to keep them away from the strike, something perfectly doable thanks to the extended weapon coverage granted to me by the DRAGOONs.

I entered a sharp turn, g-forces crushing me, as I chased one of the Ginns, while I was distracting the other with pot shots from my weapon pods. Few more seconds and the strike could go on undisturbed.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Dagger One**

**Moebius Mobile Armor**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Begin evasive maneuvers. We'll be entering in the Laurasia's defensive envelope shortly." Master Sergeant Lavalier spoke calmly in his comm.

Around him the two squadrons of strike craft started jingling madly.

"Dagger Squadron, Dagger One. We'll be concentrating on the leading Laurasia. Andromeda, take the one to the left. Remember, we go in, send the birds on their way and then go back to the fleet to rearm. No needless heroics and don't get yourself killed!"

"I'll be glad to follow those orders, Dagger One." Andromeda's CO said.

A sharp, continuous tone sounded into the Master Sergeant's cockpit. Targeting sensors were painting his armor, burning through his ECM fast. The enemy ships were mere specks in the void at this range, yet they will be able to threaten his squadron shortly with their missiles. However, there was not much he could do about that. The two squadrons had to survive for another two minutes before they reached optimal shooting range.

So Lavalier steeled his nerves and continued on course heedless of the danger, all the while making random corrections in his course.

Thirty seconds later, the alarm tone became shrill, announcing that missiles were in the void, speeding up his way. The Sergeant flipped off the safety of the Vulkan guns built in the fuselage of his craft and started searching for the missiles trying to kill him, an action mirrored by the other EF pilots participating in the strike.

Fifteen seconds later he could almost make the shimmer of their drives on the star lit background. Fortunately, his sensors were far better than Mark One Eyeball, helpfully marking the incoming ordinance on his display. Luckily only two missiles were screaming his way, coming in for a headlong intercept.

Lavalier corrected the heading of his Moebius a bit and let lose with his cannons, filling the space in front of his Mobile Armor with depleted uranium. Few long seconds later he was rewarded with a small explosion, then another. He sagged back in relief when the shrill alarm became quieter, signifying that there were no more missiles homing on him, for the moment at least.

He glanced at the tactical display. Three of the twenty four Mobile Armors weren't so lucky and this was only the first barrage coming their way.

Lavalier gritted his teeth. Just one more minute! Was this too much to ask for?!

The alarm became shrill again and he swore.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-105 Strike**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"I'm engaging the enemy!" Kira spoke in his comm much more calmly than he felt.

What little was left of Aegis Wing was now engaged by four Mobile Suits while the remaining six were moving towards the fleet he was supposed to protect. They were coming to sink the Archangel. To kill his friends!

Kira narrowed his eyes at the approaching machines, his fingers squeezing the controls hard. He wouldn't let them endanger his friends, no matter what he had to do!

Under his direction, the Strike darted towards the approaching Ginns. It pointed its beam rifle at them, aimed carefully and squeezed the trigger.

And missed, because the Mobile Suits had entered evasive maneuvers to make themselves harder targets for the fleets beam weapons and conventional canons. One of the Ginns remained back and pulled up, opening a clear firing lane for its recoiless rifle, while the others closed in. Two of them in turn broke from the group and headed his way, obviously aware of the danger he represented.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Dagger One**

**Moebius Mobile Armor**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Few more seconds. Keep it steady!" Levaler spoke calmly, using all his willpower to keep his voice from trembling.

They were down to sixteen birds, he winced as a flash lit up his canopy. Fifteen now. Then a panel on the right lit up green and a distinctive tone chimed in. The strike package had a firm lock on and it was in optimal range. He flipped a switch and pressed the trigger. The Sergeant's Mobile Armor shook, the ride becoming bumpier as he lost the additional mass of the two heavy ship-killer missiles that were strapped on his belly.

"Missiles away!" He announced. Within couple of seconds the surviving members of the two EF squadrons followed suit. "Well done! Now break away and head up for the nest!" Levalier followed his own order.

The Mobile Armors scattered, looping around and pulling away from the three Laurasia frigates, who now had a bigger headache to deal with – thirty Longshot ship-killers screaming for their blood.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

"Vampire, Vampire, Vampire!" The sensor operator shouted. "Thirty Vampires in the air!"

"Rotate ninety degrees. Lunch counter-missiles. CIWS ready for defensive fire." Brown ordered calmly. "What's the status of enemy MA?" He asked in the same, almost bored tone.

Holden looked at him incredulously before looking back at his console. "They're breaking off."

"Weapons, send a parting salvo their way and let them be."

"Yes, sir!"

"Tactical, what's the status of our Mobile Suits?"

"Heavy losses. I about thirty or so are destroyed. However most revised primary objectives are achieved. Our anti-ship strike is engaging as we speak and the Ginns are dealing with the bulk of the enemy Mobile Armor."

"Good," The Commodore nodded.

Once it became clear that the Archangel was actually with the enemy fleet, the tactical situation had shifted. Radically. So has the goals Task Force. Now he simply needed to maul the enemy and survive until he could link with Hawkings and Sagan, with their untouched MS Wings and Gundam. Those two ships and the units they carried would deal the killing blow on the enemy fleet. If he could just hurt them hard enough in the meantime, victory would be assured.

Though first they had to survive the missile strike reasonably intact. 'Let's see if my brainstorm is going to work,' Brown thought.


	11. Chapter 4 Parts 7&8

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.****

****AN: ********I need a beta for this update.****

****Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed****

**=GSI=**

**Part 7**

* * *

**X-311 Dragon**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

I didn't have time to play with those two. Every moment they delayed me, another Eurasian soldier was dying. Decision made, I stopped firing at one of the Ginns and concentrated my attention on the other. Gun pods and beam cannons racked at my target, making his life harder. I flew at him, throwing all caution to the wind. Doing so in my old Moebius Zero would have been suicide, because I stopped trying to dodge the return fire, instead concentrating on my shooting. Instead I was counting on the Phase Shift armor to keep me in one piece.

The Dragon shook as machine gun shells splashed all over it. I could almost feel the machine around me laugh at their attempts to hurt it.

Needles to say, the battery indicator wasn't as cheerful, getting lower and lower with each shot the Phase Shift turned around.

Crimson beams bracketed the enemy, getting closer and closer, until one connected, blowing up an arm. The detonation briefly spun the Ginn out of control, sending it tumble through the void. Before its pilot could regain his bearings and start evading again, I blasted the MS with my gun pods, blowing it up.

His friend took offense at that and flew at me, weapon chattering all the way. He was coming from above and bit behind me, ensuring that I wont be able to turn around and face him in time. Luckily he wasn't targeting my vulnerable engines yet, but I couldn't count on his fury consuming him for much longer. So I decided to take a chance and pullet the lever that initiated the Dragon's transformation.

Granted, with the current OS I couldn't do anything but very basic maneuvers, woefully insufficient for use in combat. Unfortunately for the ZAFT pilot, that was all I needed.

Within seconds, the Dragon was in its Mobile Suit configuration, slowly rotating under my very careful ministrations. I smiled when my machine turned to face the charging Ginn. HEAP rounds detonated on the Gundam's chest plate, but I ignored them and brought up the beam rifle, while coasting on the same vector I was traveling before the transformation. The ZAFT pilot finally got hold over his rage and tried to evade, but it was all too late.

He did dodge the first beam, however the next found its mark, striking the Ginn in the left hip. The third and fourth shots did the job.

I sighed with relief and transformed my ride back in MA configuration. I would have died today if it wasn't for my superior machine.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

Commodore Brown stared at the tactical plot, radiating calmness. Counter-missiles had shot down nine ship-killers with one last salvo on the way before they came too close for that brand of defense to work. Then it would be the turn of the CIWS and his crazy plan.

In mere seconds, the yellow dots representing counter fire left the three ZAFT frigates and merged with the approaching wave of death. Two of the angry red symbols went out, while the remaining continued their heedless charge.

"CIWS engaging," the XO stated.

"Execute." Brown ordered a moment later.

The timing had to be precise and he hopped he chose right.

The _Celsius _shook even before the first missile was nailed by the close defense weapons and detonated, suddenly altering course, the Dirak following suit.

**=GSI=**

* * *

The Longshts streaked in, wobbling in attempt to throw off the desperate efforts of the CIWS, dodging streams of high velocity metal which tried to fend off their mission. A ship-killer went up, then another and a third. Yet the rest continued, nearly melting their rocket engines in their final dash.

Five more were intercepted short of their destination, but the rest went in slamming in the exposed bellies of their targets. The remaining eleven missiles detonated for effect, armor plating shattering like glass. Seconds later, secondary explosions blossomed all over their targets shedding them from inside out.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-105 Strike**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Shells slammed into the Strike's shield, their detonation throwing off Kira's aim. He glared at the pair of Ginns that were playing with him. Soon after he engaged them, they had launched most of their heavy weapons in the general direction of the fleet and were now busy tying him up while their friends were going on the attack. However one of them retained a damned bazooka and Kira was unsure how well the Strike would fare taking a direct hit from that thing. The other MS was less dangerous, wielding a machine gun and sword, however the sheer explosive force of its shells were more than enough to make the teen miss.

He was running out of time. Those two weren't really trying to kill him, just slow him down. It was obviously in the way they flied – they were more interested in keeping reasonably away and intact while acting as a distraction.

Kira glanced at the tactical display. They were succeeding too. The other four machines were drawing near the fleet, which was shooting for all it was worth, filling up the space with beams, shells and missiles. For a moment he concentrated on what was happening there, the Strike's cameras focusing on the action.

One of the Ginns got unlucky, a nearby explosion damaged it, sending it spinning out of control. Then a purple beam found it, obliterating the Mobile Suit. However, that skirmish wasn't an one side slaughter. Another Ginn ripple fired four torpedoes at a nearby Drake. Defensive fire downed two, but the remaining pair struck almost simultaneously, engulfing the ship in the bright glow of twin explosions. When the picture cleared up, the Drake was almost unrecognizable wreck, tumbling through space in two big parts and multiple smaller pieces.

Kira's spell was interrupted when the Strike shook viciously, alarms blaring in the cockpit. He swore and went into a sharp turn, trying to avoid a repeat performance. People were dying and he was damn useless kid who almost got himself killed!

Yamato snarled, sudden fury boiling in his veins. He had to do something, NOW!

A burst wracked his shield, rattling the Strike. The tactical plot blinked, another Drake going off. It was all too much, Kira had to do something, NOW!

He charged at the nearest enemy, screaming soundlessly. Kira's bloodstream flooded with adrenaline and the world suddenly sharpened and slowed down. He could see events unfolding in slow motion, giving him all the time in the world to act. His fingers were blur over the controls, the Strike moved more fluidly than ever, as if it was an extension of his will. The nearest Ginn tried to evade, however it moved as if stuck in quicksand, making it trivial for Kira to lead it up, before gently pressing the trigger. For an instant, a pink beam connected the two Mobile Suits, before something within the ZAFT unit exploded, tearing it in two.

Before the explosion had died out, the Strike had rotated, it's engines blazing and carrying it straight at the other Ginn. Kira ignored the machine gun shells slamming into his shield and armor, trusting the Phase Shift to tank the damage. The ZAFT pilot tried to dodge and pull back, gaining distance in the process, yet the Strike followed, cutting corners as if Kira knew where the enemy was going to go before he actually moved.

The Ginn threw away its machine gun after the magazine rand dry and grabbed its sword with both hands. It's pilot obviously decided that evading was no longer and option, with the Strike gaining on him faster and faster. Instead, the ZAFT machine abandoned the game of cat and mouse, and charged the enemy.

Kira used his shield to meet the blade, the sheer force of the impact rattling the Strike. Then he calmly aimed at the head of the Ginn and blew it up, before pushing the enemy machine away and shooting it again, in the center of mass. The Strike was briefly engulfed in the explosion that followed, shrapnel pinging off its armor.

The teen looked around wildly, as if he was unaware what just happened. He stared at the screen and then glanced at the plot. The two Ginns he had been fighting were just gone. He vaguely remembered taking them out, though it felt distant, as if he wasn't really in control.

Kira shuddered, feeling dirty. He had just killed people again.

"Kira, a bit of assistance over here will be appreciated." Miralia's voice broke his momentary stupor and he looked at the screens.

The fleet had shot down another Ginn, now having to content with only two MS, however the rest of the enemy had obliterated Aegis squadrons and three more were heading straight at the fleet. While no more ships were lost, one Drake was obviously damaged, falling out of formation.

"Ah. All right. I'm going after the enemy!" Kira stammered into the comm and headed for the battle.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Moebius Zero**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Mu bracketed a Ginn with long bursts from his gun pods, before finishing it with his linear cannon. That was his second confirmed kill for the engagement, bringing the enemy number down to five. However there were only twenty seven Mobile Armors left with at least few of them damaged to some extent. In contrast, only one of the remaining MS showed signs of being shot at.

At that rate, both forces were going to annihilate each other, something that probably wasn't lost on the enemy. However, ZAFT had two more frigates with intact MS Wings and the Earth forces MA was mostly spent. It was a trade off that would favor the enemy, though it couldn't be helped now.

Mu climbed up, avoiding a burst that came too close for comfort. He entered a complicated evasive pattern, while few Mobile Armors ganged on the enemy shooting at him. By the time his Zero was flying in their direction to assist, all was over. That Ginn and six more EF craft were gone.

La Flaga cursed quietly and looked around searching for another target. He was resigned that he might be the last one standing after this part of the battle was over. If he was lucky.

The AF Ace blinked in confusion when he failed to acquire another target. The remaining Ginns were hightailing it, with two flying backwards providing covering fire.

"Mu, don't pursuit. We are going back to the fleet. We'll be needed there shortly." Veil's voice sounded in his earpiece.

La Flaga glanced at the sensor screen. Sure enough, the Dragon was approaching fast, followed by three more Mobile Armors. Mu slumped back in his seat, the adrenaline slowly leaking out of his system. He had survived another battle.

"All right. All units, were are going back to the nest. Form up and lets go. You all did great."

Mu wondered how many MA the fleet had left and if they would be enough to slow down the two fresh Wings of Ginns that were yet to enter the battle.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

"Give me a status report." Commodore Brown asked, his voice full with calmness he didn't feel.

"We are mostly intact." His Chief Engineer answered. "Few of the CIWSs are damaged from near misses but we are undamaged beside that. Needless to say, the whole hangar is gone." The older man glared at Brown as if it was his fault. Which was true.

"Splendid. Comms, I call Captain Kole. I want status report on the _Dirak._Helm, change course thirty five degree to port, rotate us to open up firing lines to the enemy fleet."

A chorus of "Aye, Sir!" answered him. "XO, status on our MS?"

"Not good. We'll be losing the anti-shipping strike with some success. At least two Drakes are gone as well as most of their CSP. The remains of Red Wing is still engaging the bulk of enemy MA. At this rate both forces will annihilate themselves. Two survivors of Luna Wing are falling back towards us. What's left of the Mobile Armors that escorted the enemy anti-shipping strike and that G-Weapon that led them are moving to engage Colonel Koh as well."

"Hmm. I see. Have the Colonel pull back. We'll deal wit the enemy Mobile Armors and experimental units with the Blitz and our intact Ginns. Time until the _Hawkings _and _Sagan_ are back?"

"Four minutes. We'll be in range of the enemy in two."

"It will be close but perfectly doable."

"Sir, I have Captain Kole on the line for you."

"Patch him in. Captain Kole, how's the _Dirak _holding up?"

"We took two ship-killers at the port side. We are down to seventy percent effectiveness. And our hangar is gone. If it wasn't for this idea of yours, sir, those missiles would have wrecked us."

"I'm glad it worked as intended, Captain. It's time to pay our compliments to the enemy fleet. Concentrate fire on their escorts until the rest of our Task Force is in place."

"With pleasure, sir!" There was eagerness in Kole's voice. Obviously he too wanted some payback.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**AF Warship Archangel**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

The bridge was illuminated by the blaze of Gottfried's twin beams, which speared one of the few remaining Ginns. The Mobile Suit simply disintegrated under the punishing torrent of energy. The remaining two ZAFT units didn't fare better. One was shot down by Kira and the other ran afoul of the CIWSs of two Drakes, which shredded it.

Relief flooded Acting Captain Ramius. The combat was over, for the moment. In just a few minutes the battle group would be in range of the enemy ships and the mayhem would begin anew, yet there it was – a brief spell of calm amidst the chaotic storm of combat.

"XO, status of the Fleet?"

"Three Drakes destroyed, the _Madrid_, _Milan_ and _Hanover_. Two are damaged – _Liverpool _and _Dortmund_, with the latter no longer able to keep formation. The rest of the fleet is nominal."

"Damn it," Ramius muttered too quiet for the crew to hear. "Status on the Mobile armor?"

Badriguel barely hid a wince. "Not good. All wings got decimated. Lieutenants La Flaga and Veil are returning with two squadrons worth of units and thirteen more survived the anti-shipping strike at the enemy frigates. Aegis Wing was destroyed."

Ramius closed her eyes for a brief moment. Now they had near numerical parity with the remaining enemy Mobile Suits. However, there would be thirty six fresh Ginns entering the fray shortly with whoever survived the combat so far. That combined with the enemy frigates made for tall odds, unless the fleet could take out the three closest ships before the other two could join the fun.

"XO, I want full alpha strike at the leading enemy frigate the moment we are in range. Coordinate missile barrage with our escorts for overwhelming strike."

"I'm on it, Captain!"

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Losses so far:**

**ZAFT: 48 Ginns; **

**One Laurasia, Dirak, moderately damaged;**

**EF: 167 Mobile Armors;**

**3 Drake Escorts destroyed : Madrid, Millan and Hanover; 2 damaged – Liverpool and Dortmund; Dortmund is out of the battle;**

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Part 8**

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

"We'll be in range in ten." The tactical officer, a petite red head woman, announced.

"Target pattern Delta Three. Go into sprint mode for the missile launchers. I want the magazines emptied as fast as possible, Commander Donovan." Brown ordered. His tone was reminiscent to a man requesting a cup of tea instead unleashing the destructive potential of a Laurasia frigate.

"Aye, sit! I've got it covered!"

"Good." A small smile tugged his lips. Glenda Donovan was one of his handpicked crew members, chosen for their professionalism and unshakable resolve during combat.

Brown remained impassive when few seconds later, the _Celsius_ shuddered as her main weapons spat beams at the enemy and missiles raced out of their launchers.

"Multiple energy and thermal spikes in the enemy fleet." for once Holden was speaking calmly.

Within moments, the frigate's two consorts followed the her example lighting up the void. The moment after the first shots were fired, helmsmen drove the ships in sharp turns, changing vectors to throw off the enemy response.

The Commodore was watching the tactical plot, satisfied that his remaining six mobile suits would rejoin their mother ships in time to assist with anti-missile defense. The _Copernicus' _hangar bay would make a good sponge too, if that ship was still alive when the enemy ordinance arrived.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Flag Bridge**

**EA Warship "Archangel"**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"The fleet is engaging," Commander Harper spoke calmly in contrast with his earlier outburst. However he had his excuse. The ONI agent knew perfectly well the exchange rate between ZAFT Mobile Suits and the MA's used by the EA. If those two ships had been present to add their own Ginns into the initial engagement, the battle group would have been fucked. However, now they had a chance to defeat the enemy in detail. Not only that, but if the preliminary reports were to be believed, the EF pilots had achieved a nearly three to one exchange against the enemy, one of the four best outcomes against ZAFT on record, ever since the war started.

Now he just tried not to think about the damage those fresh Ginns would be able to do once they arrived.

The Archangel shook lightly as her main cannons spoke, followed by additional tremors caused by missiles leaving their tubes. The rest of the battle group followed the Flag's lead, battleships opening fire with their beam cannons and missiles, while the Drakes launched their heavy torpedoes.

Needless to say, since the immediate threat of Mobile Suits was over for now, the fleet had stretched it's formation to make evasive maneuvers easier. In few minutes, just before the next wave of MS arrived, the warships would come together again, seeking protections in overlapping fields of fire.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**EA Warship "Archangel"**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Target Alpha evaded," Natarle stated calmly. "Lohengrin recharging.

"Gottfrieds fire!" Ramius ordered.

Badriguel who was doubling up as weapons officer too just nodded in response, took couple of seconds to refine her firing solution and pressed a button. The heavy beam cannons spoke again, tracing blazing lines through the void.

"Thermal spike! We grazed Alpha!" Her composure almost broke in excitement.

"Barcelona was cored by a railgun hit! She's falling out of formation!" the NCO manning the sensor station reported.

"I see. They are picking on our escorts to thin our numbers..." Ramius muttered.

"Near miss on the Myrmidon!"

"While concentrating their beam weapons on the battleships." Natarle added, while refining a firing solution for the next missile strike, while the cannons were recharging.

"Helm, whatever happens, keep with the evasion maneuvers."

"Aye, Ma'am."

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**EA Warship "Archangel"**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"That's another Drake..." Harper muttered.

"They have better fire control, at least at this range." Garcia mussed.

The Earth forces had scored only a single glancing hit, from the most modern ship in their midst, while two of their escorts were already take on out of commission. Granted, the disparity in numbers the two sides had didn't meant that much, with the Drakes not having long range cannons installed. The enemy was picking them up for another reason – they would provide screen when their fresh Mobile Suits entered the scene.

However, that didn't stop the Laurasias from shooting with their beam armaments at the battleships. Luckily, so far they were missing, if barely.

The bright news was that soon the ZAFT ships would have to content with the massive alpha strike of missiles and torpedoes flying at them.

The nerve wracking duel continued for long seconds, neither side scoring solid hits, though getting closer and closer as the range drew shorter.

"Spartan was just hit, moderate damage."

Garcia stiffened. That was one of his precious Nelson battleships. However, his eyes never left the plot. The missiles and torpedoes were going in, though some of them were winking out, intercepted by counter fire. The same could be said for the first wave of the enemy barrage.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Joakim Koh's Ginn**

**ZAFT Forces Red Wing Leader**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Colonel Koh was leading the remnants of three whole Wings in a desperate bid to thin out the Natural's overwhelming missile strike. Couple of hundred ship-killers and torpedoes were homing in on just three frigates, with six Ginns, three of which were damaged, standing on their way.

The only ray of light in his situation was the fact that they barely had time to rearm, by just grabbing couple of containers with machine gun ammo, before the fleet engagement began in earnest.

"Hold the line! Don't let anything reach our rides home!" Koh ordered and opened up with his machine gun.

Each burst downed a missile, yet two or more took its place. The six Ginns were woefully inadequate for the job. Counter-missiles from the frigates staked in, doing their parts too, but it was scarcely enough. On the bright side, this opening strike would be the heaviest, containing all the enemy's escorts long ranged firepower. Koh's problem was that it might be just enough.

"Start falling back and don't stop shooting until you either run out of ammo or the barrels melt!" he ordered, his Ginn flying backwards.

The Colonel's Mobile Suit started shaking as he was forced to shoot down missiles that were getting closer and closer, their blast waves slamming into him.

"All Ginns, disperse and make way for the _Copernicus!_" The Mobile Suit controller ordered, a bit of strain barely heard in her voice.

"SCATTER!" Koh shouted and went evasive.

Seconds latter, said frigate entered the space that the Colonel and his pilots were occupying. It turned, presenting her hangar to the incoming rain of deadly ordinance. Explosive charges detonated, detaching it in the last possible moment, while the CIWS of the three ZAFT craft filled the void around them with rain of steel.

It was a supreme effort… and it was almost enough. Scores of missiles and torpedoes slammed into the hangar, even more blowing up after being shredded by its wreckage when in inevitably blew up.

However there were simply too many, flying in a broad front. Even more were shot down by CIWS, yet some found a gap in the wall of flak trying to stop them.

The Copernicusshuddered as missile after missile detonated at point blank range, stopped just a handful of meters away. Then a CIWS started dying, wrecked by the nearby detonations, before missiles started leaking through. Armor shattered, decks evacuated of personnel and air simply splintered, filling empty corridors with shards of steel.

Then a spread of torpedoes, launched by the now dead Barcelona_, _struck true, splitting the frigate in two. The rest of the barrage slammed into its wreckage, erasing it from existence.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

"Shit. The _Copernicus _is just gone." The XO muttered in sick fascination.

"Got the bastard!" Donovan exclaimed.

Most of the bridge's crew turned their eyes towards the tactical plot. The icon of one of the enemy battleships had turned amber before becoming gray.

"Well done. Now get me another." Brown smiled. That almost made up for the loss of the _Copernicus_, almost.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-311 Dragon**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

I had deployed the Dragon in MS mode again, so I could take advantage to the two CIWS mounted in its head. My current task didn't need any real maneuvering either. Just fly ahead of the fleet and shoot down any missile that came our way. With no N-Jammers fucking up the wireless right now, I had deployed my gun pods without their cables, which made them easier to use by not worrying about severing the control line.

Around me, the remaining Mobile Armors, Mu and Kira were deployed in a loose screening formation. We were flying a bit above the fleet, careful not to cross their firing lanes.

"Here they come. Time for a turkey shoot, folks." Mu quipped over the general comm channel.

"Just try not to get in the way of the big boys while they are throwing away beams like there's no tomorrow." I added.

The first missiles entered range and we opened up on them. To be fair, the barrage coming our way was decidedly underwhelming. In comparison to their other, formidable armaments, the Laurasias offensive missiles were decidedly sub-par. The fleet might have been troubled if there weren't more than thirty Mobile Armors and couple of Gundams providing additional screening fire, but with us present, the enemy barrages served little purpose beyond forcing us to expend ammo and energy.

Unfortunately, given the situation, that wasn't exactly a trivial concern.

Suddenly a particularly concentrated salvo of beam five passed under me. I lanced at the cameras keeping an eye of the fleet and winced. The forward half of one of the battleships was just gone, its burning wreck failing out of formation. Few seconds later, a subdued Mirallia, informed us that our own missile strike had fared better, nailing one of the enemy frigates.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**EA Warship "Archangel"**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Natarle silently snarled when the Spartan went up. She frantically typed on her console, carefully refining firing solutions. Those ZAFT bastards needed to pay!

She took a breath and pausing for a moment, pushing away the anger clouding her better judgment. Then she looked at the targeting solutions and make few changes, before firing. The Gottfrieds spoke first, barely missing their wounded target. Then the Lohengring seared the void, one beam scorching off the paint of target Alpha…

The second slammed right through her mauled board side and buried itself deep, wrecking deck after deck. The Laurasias own speed acted against it, helping the beam to slice vertically through the aft half of the ship. The frigate hanged in place for a long moment, like a dear caught in the headlights of a speeding truck, before something inside detonated. Only her somewhat intact nose section emerged from the explosion, tumbling through the void.

"Chalk down another..." the sensor operator exclaimed before cutting off mid sentence. "Moscow is gone. Targets Delta and Epsilon just entered effective weapons range. We have Mobile Suits incoming. ETA one minute." He paused. "Leonidas just scored a solid hid on target Beta."

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-207 Blitz**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Nicol Amalfi watched with stony expression how three ZAFT ships were methodically taken apart by the enemy fleet. Two of the frigates were already gone, with the third damaged, by the time the remaining two ships could enter weapon range. At lest now the enemy was maneuvering to meet the new threat and rearranging their formation to better receive him and the Mobile Suits he was leading. That would make the fleet's life a bit easier.

While Nicol wasn't specialist in ship to ship combat, he was well aware that the tight formations needed to fight against Mobile Suits were anything but helpful when those behemoths slugged it with each other.

"Junius Wing, follow my lead. We'll sweep the way. Half of Aprilius will take out the escorts, while the rest will concentrate on the battleships. If you have a clean shot at the Archangel, take it. Otherwise just strike the Nelsons."

"Roger, that! We'll take them down, for PLANT!" an enthusiast shouted, making Nicol shake his head in exasperation.

Most pilots in those wings were much older than him, yet a lot of them were taking this way like a big bloody joke. Or a game. Just as he did, before Heliopolis...

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Fleet engagement losses so far:**

**ZAFT:** 2 Laurasia Frigates: Copernicus and Dirak; Celsius moderately damaged;

**EF:** 1 Nelson Battleship: Spartan; 3 Drake Escorts: Berlin, Sofia and Moscow;


	12. Chapter 4 Part 9

****Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.****

**Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed**

**=GSI=**

**Part 9**

* * *

**X-311 Dragon**

**In the vicinity of EF Artemis**

"Just like the old times, eh?" Mu quipped.

"Let's hope not. The last time we faced such odds I basically died." I grumbled.

Let me tell you, that wasn't something I wanted to experience again. At all.

Eighteen Ginns armed with machine guns were coming straight at us, led by the Blitz. Another such group was flying some distance behind them, armed for bear.

"That's not reassuring." Sergeant Levalier cut into our conversation.

"Well, we are actually outnumbered this time," I helpfully pointed out. The banter was helping keep me somewhat calm. In other words, it kept the terror I felt at bay. Barely.

"Yep. We were at Endymion too." Mu cheerfully added.

"We lost that battle." The Sergeant Pointed out.

"So? Look it from the bright side, folks! This is your chance to become legends, just like us!" Mu tried to cheer up our pilots. If how I felt was anything to go by, it didn't help much. Like at all. Which I promptly said.

"Nope. Not feeling better."

"Shush, you! You're already a legend so you don't get any say in this!"

"Neither are you, by that criteria."

"Uh, guys. There are a bunch of Mobile Suits approaching." That was Kira, who judging by his voice, wasn't too keen on engaging so many enemies either.

"Look it from the bright side. Only one Gundam on their side. Besides I've got a cunning plan." I smirked. It might even work. In theory…

I filled them in. Garcia too.

"Veil, I can't decide if you've went mental or are a damn genius. It might work. We aren't the damn AF morons after all."

"Then we'll try keeping the Mobile suits off your backs while you do your thing." Mu added. "That plan would have had no prayer of working with AF officers in charge..."

"Kira, you've know your part. Take down the Blitz, hard. We can't have it free to wreak havoc within the fleet and we'll need your help with the rest of the enemy Mobile Suits." I said.

"I'll do my best!" The kid stammered.

"Of course, you'll do it." I tried to reassure him.

"We'll have numerical advantage against the first group." Mu continued. "Veil goes in, counting on his armor to keep him in one piece, and disrupts their formation. Then we strike, taking out as many of the bastards as we can before they know what will hit them. Just one pass. The fleet with hit them with anti-MS missile barrage after our strike. After that keep with your wing mate and nail as many of the bastards as you can! Good luck!" My friend summarized our part of the plan.

"Let's hope so." I muttered and flew ahead, charging to meet the swarm of Ginns.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**ZAFT Frigate "Celsius"**

**Laurasia Class**

**On Course towards EF Fortress Artemis**

"Damage report!" Commodore Brown coughed from the wisps of smoke hanging on the bridge. That hit had shorted up some systems, despite the breakers supposed to prevent it.

"Our starboard side is wrecked. We've lost power to that part of the ship. About ten or so crewmen too." The XO reported. "Engineering is balancing the drive outputs so we can keep steady course if needed. However our maneuverability is down at least twenty percent for the time being. DC parties are doing what they can."

"Well, fuck. Donovan, see if you can nail few more bastards while we are still space worthy."

"I will, sir." She answered crisply, as if the possibility of immediate death didn't concern her in the least.

Brown reminded himself to make Napoleon look like a prick in comparison in her next evaluation. If there was one.

"Sir! Hawkings and Sagan are in range and engaging the enemy!" Holden exclaimed.

The Commodore nodded, a bit of relief flooding his system. He looked at the plot and allowed himself a small smile. His other two ships took out a Drake with the opening salvo and their Ginns were going straight for the jugular.

They might make it yer.

"Nailed it!" Donovan reported with glee and another Drake blinked out of the plot.

"Good..." The ship shook viciously and Brown would have been thrown out of his seat if it wasn't for the webbing keeping him in place. The lights went out, announcing that the main power had decided to take a break. Brown could feel that Celsius was no longer accelerating or maneuvering.

Couple of seconds later, emergency lights came on, bathing the bridge in crimson, showing that at least the rest of the people in the compartment were all right.

"XO," Brown forced his voice to remain level, "Please, find out what happened to my ship."

"I'm on it, skipper."

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-105 Strike**

**In the Vicinity of EF Artemis**

Kira flew to meet the sinister form of the Blitz, its dark color scheme making it almost invisible against the star-scape. Fortunately, Yamato was on even footing with the ZAFT pilot, because he had docked with a strike pack, recharging his energy reserves. In contrast, the rest of the EF MA and even Veil's Gundam were getting dangerously low by now.

The other friendly Gundam was flying to his right, ready to charge the wall of Ginns they were approaching.

"Kira, you ready?"

"Nope." The teen answered truthfully.

To his surprise Veil chuckled.

"Neither am I. We need to do this anyway. Just keep the Blitz away from me for the next minute or so. I don't need to worry about being shot by a beam rifle."

"The Blitz won't be cooperating."

"That's why he and those fellas that are coming for us are called the enemy."

"Not because they are ZAFT?"

"That's secondary. The fact that they are trying to kill us is kinda more important. Don't get killed."

"Same to you."

Kira slammed the throttle forward, streaking in straight at the Blitz and opened fire. The stolen weapon returned the favor, beams slamming in the Strike's shield. The enemy vanguard joined the fun too, though their pot shots were soon interrupted by the Dragon, who entered the fray with guns blazing. One of the Ginns was too concentrated on Kira and was caught flat footed when crimson beams started rain upon him.

The Coordinator somehow evaded the first two shots, only to fly right into the next, which struck him through the shoulder and straight into the top of the cockpit, blowing the upper third of the machine.

That got the attention of most Ginns and they concentrated their fire on the Dragon. The Gundam paid no attention to the shells flying its way and charged in weapons blazing all the way.

Meanwhile, Kira had his hands full. To deal with the enemy, fast he needed to get close to it, where that machine excelled. So Kira gritted his teeth and after futilely exchanging some shots which were either avoided or caught with shield, he strapped the beam rifle on the back of the Strike, picked up his beam saber and went all in, charging the Blitz. This move actually caught the other pilot off guard. First the ZAFT Coordinator tried pulling back, but Kira would have none of that. He dashed closer, using his shield to absorb the enemy's shots. Yamato slashed with the saber, slicing the front of the Blitz's beam rifle.

His opponent discarded the useless piece of metal and pulled his own melee weapon from a compartment in the shield. The Gundams faced off for a moment, clashing in the next. Slashes and trusts were either blocked or evaded, locking the two machines in a frustrating stalemate.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-311 Dragon**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"That wasn't such a good idea," I muttered to myself. My energy was in the red and I was in the middle of the enemy.

A part of me wondered why the hell I was out here, risking my life in a war that wasn't my own, for a cause that I didn't… believe… in… Then it hit me. In the fleet I was protecting, there were a few people who I not only liked but perhaps I even cared about. Flesh and blood persons that counted on me doing my part.

Not to mention, that if I didn't play my role I was going to die in agony anyway. It was a jarring revelation, one made while I did my best to avoid burst of HEAP rounds and often failing. The being that threw me in here knew what she was doing. The fractured memories, half forgotten feelings I inherited with this body… They were changing me, altering my perception of this world. Making me care for it, for the people living here. A small part of me was even starting to resonate with the cause of the Eurasian Federation.

She was an insidious bitch, that woman who threw me into the war.

I almost heard pleased laughter in the back of my head. Or perhaps it was the din of shells detonating against the Phase Shift armor.

I shook myself and stopped acting on autopilot, returning to the present and glanced at the time displayed on the central monitor, just before pulling up over a line of tracers coming right at me. My pondering had lasted only a handful of seconds, explaining why I was still in one piece.

On the bright side, my insane charge had worked, not only shattering their formation, but taking out three Ginns. On the other hand, even with the Mu riding on the rescue, I was likely fucked when the other enemy group arrived in about a minute or so.

I was pushing the MA form of the Dragon to its performance envelope, but it was no use. It simply wasn't maneuverable enough to evade most of the fire coming my way. At least thanks to my implants and the drugs in my system I was somewhat calm, my panic burned away once the combat resumed.

Something I was thankful for. Otherwise I would be dead by now, Phase Shift armor or not.

I drove the Dragon out of the latest sharp turn and headed at the nearest cluster of enemies – three Ginns flying in formation. I glanced at the plot, seeing that my backup will be coming in seconds and went in for the kill.

This was no time for finesse or clever tactics. Just brute force and trust in the machine that got me this far. So I sent the weapon pods ahead, shooting all the way. One managed to blow up the hands of a Ginn before being nailed itself. The other was just as useful. While it's shots went wide, I managed to guide it at full speed straight at the side of another Mobile Suit with the impact wrecking it and damaging the ZAFT machine.

The third enemy was much trickier. He deftly evaded my shots, peppering me with shells. He suddenly stopped firing, darting backwards, its left hand moving to retrieve a spare mag. That gave me an opportunity for a perfect shot and I squeezed the trigger…

Nothing happened. Well, that's not exactly true. My cockpit was bathed in crimson light, announcing that my energy was almost spent. There was no juice left for another shot. Then the Phase Shift armor cut off and my engines lost most of their power, kept running by a small emergency reserve.

The ZAFT pilot calmly reloaded and pointed his gun at me.

"Fuck!"

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Moebius Zero**

**In the Vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Mu led the remnants of the EF Wings in a desperate counterattack. Even if the insane plan worked, most of them simply wouldn't be there to enjoy it. He could see Kira engaging the sole enemy Gundam on the field, doing a rather good job of it. Veil was doing his part too, which made the AF Ace cringe. He didn't want to watch his friend die again.

Yet that was what he was witnessing. The dark form of the Dragon was pulling off insane maneuvers, which should have made its pilot black out, however it wasn't quite enough. La Flaga could see the Gundam slightly wobble with impacts. It was just a matter of time, and not a lot of it, before the energy was spent and the machine blown to pieces.

Mu only hopped that they would make it in time.

He was only seconds away from weapon's range, when Veil changed his pattern. He was no longer trying to evade, minimizing the hit he was taking. A part of it was the approach of Mu and company, yet La Flaga just knew it was something more than that.

Shit. His friend's machine must be getting out of juice. And he was going to be just a few seconds away. The Ace helplessly watched his Veil fight for his life.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-207 Blitz**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Nicol was fighting the enemy Gundam to a standstill. It wasn't too hard, this time around. Its pilot, Athrun's friend was incredibly good, for even a Coordinator without any formal training. Not quite good enough, when Nicol was fighting him level headed, without letting his frustration and anger get in the way. Instead he was flying calmly, acting with the precision drilled into him in the Military Academy on his home colony.

Which was working splendidly. So good in fact that Nicol wondered if this fight was a mirror image to his previous encounters with the Strike. The enemy's actions were becoming more frantic, desperate even. The attacks wilder, less precise despite their growing ferocity.

Nicol saw an opening, then another, though he hesitated for two reasons. First, he was naturally cautious, wondering if the other Pilot was leading him in a trap. Second, he didn't really want to kill Athrun's friend.

However that might be a luxury he couldn't afford. His fellow soldiers were dying and the enemy fleet still needed to be dealt with… Nicol steeled himself and waited for another opening, determined to take it.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**EA Warship "Archangel"**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Myrmidon just took out target Beta!" the sensor operator announced, satisfied smile spreading on his face.

"Three down. Let the battleships concentrate on the remaining frigates. XO, aim at the enemy Mobile Suits. Let's thin their numbers before they can close the range. They won't accept our suggestion otherwise. Helm, set course to..."

"I'm on it, Ma'am." Natarle answered, ignoring the instructions aimed at their pilot. She concentrated on the sensor reading coming to her station, shifting them towards the incoming mobile suits.

And her heart froze when she saw a single friendly icon amidst a swarm of red. The Dragon. Delkatar. For a moment, she just stared at the plot, wondering how he was still alive.

Nat shook herself. This wasn't like Endymion, she could do something this time!

Her face became a mask of determination as her fingers flew over the Archangel's weapons controls. The cameras providing visual targeting zoomed in, tracking the Dragon and tagging the nearest enemies. She watched as Veil went on a suicide charge, a snarl appearing on her face at the idiotic way he flew, before she saw him took down two Ginns, before he strafed the third, missed and then suddenly slowed down. Natarle's outrage turned into horror, when she understood what she was seeing. It explained his foolish stunt.

Her former lover was out of energy, about to get his dumb ass shot off. Again.

She moved like a lighting, adrenaline and desperation driving her to her limits, Gottfrieds locking in on target. Nat slammed her fist on the firing button, cursing Veil for doing this to her! She was a professional soldier, damn it! Not a love struck school girl!

The beam cannon blazed away at its distant target. In the same time, the Ginn opened fire.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-311 Dragon**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

So this is it. I stared at my death. The Ginn finished reloading and opened fire. HEAP rounds struck the nose of my Dragon, chewing up through inert Phase Armor. My craft shook, alarms screaming all around me.

Then there was light…

And I was still alive, blinking in confusion. The screen cleaned up, showing the glowing wreck that was the lower third of the Ginn that was about to turn me into a smear all around the cockpit. That had to be a heavy beam cannon from the fleet.

Then Mu and the rest of the Mobile Armors screamed in, making sure that I won't be dying just yet.

"Veil, get the fuck out of here! We'll cove you!" Mu ordered, his voice almost cracking. Or it was just the comm.

"On it, boss. I owe you one."

"More than one, as you very well know. Go back to the Archangel before someone else decided to make you a notch on his totem pole."

"You don't have to ask twice." I said, spending my little remaining power to head towards the fleet.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-105 Strike**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Kira was becoming frantic. The Mobile Armors were still approaching. Lieutenant Veil had to be out of power by now and Kira was unable to help him. The Blitz was fighting differently than before, frustrating all of Kira's attempts to take it out. At this rate his fellow Gundam pilot was going to die!

Yamato groaned in frustration, increasing the pace of his attacks. The Blitz ducked under a swing and darted forward, bashing the Strike with its shield, once, then twice and a third time, rattling Kira. The last strike left him wide open and the stolen Gundam slashed with his saber. Kira acted on instinct, making the Strike dash back, yet he was unable to get out of reach. The beam saber cut through the chest plate, the Phase Armor simply lacking the power to block the weapon. His main screen sparkled, before exploding, bombarding Kira with shrapnel, which thankfully didn't penetrate his space suit.

"Strike, stand down." An unfamiliar voice spoke through the emergency channel that was installed for secure communication between the Gundams. Kira hadn't disabled his own, because he wanted to be able to speak with Athrun if he met him again in combat.

Yamato looked at one of the side screens, hastily making it show the view of the forward camera. The Blitz was at point blank range, beam saber poised to pierce his cockpit.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**EA Warship "Archangel"**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"Archangel Actual, this is Knight. Kira is in trouble. Can you provide covering fire?" Veil called in.

Ramius looked at the plot, searching for the Strike. Fair enough, it was not moving and the Blitz was practically on top of it.

"XO?" The Captain asked.

"No joy, Ma'am. They are too close. Any shot I attempt from this heading risk hitting the Strike."

It went without saying what would happen if ship grade beam cannon struck a Mobile Suit. Phase Shift armor or not.

"Damn..."

"All units, concentrate fire on the enemy frigate. Ignore the Mobile Suits for the moment." Garcia's voice came over the comm.

"That might work. If that Gundam decides not to kill Kira..." Ramius muttered.

"I'm on it Ma'am. Locking in on target Delta."

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Moebius Zero**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

The engagement was going better than anticipated, thanks to Veil's performance. With only twelve Mobile Suits left in the first group, caught flat footed between the Mobile Armors and some supporting fire from the fleet, five Ginns were taken out in the first pass for only seven friendlies. Then to add insult to injury, the enemy couldn't turn around to pursue, because they had to deal with a wave of anti-MS missiles.

Which left Mu and the surviving Earth pilots to charge at the second enemy group, which was the true danger for the fleet.

Ten more Mobile Armors died due to guided missiles and recoiless rifles, before La Flaga and company were in effective range, then they struck the heavy loaded enemies with everything they got. Vulkan cannon shredded armor, detonated torpedo fuel or set off missiles, linear cannons slammed their shots on target.

The Ginns returned the favor in spades, single shots from their heavy weapons turning Moebius armors in so much flotsam.

Then the Earth crafts were past, decelerating madly. Behind them eight Mobile Suits continued on their mission.

There were only seven Mobile Armors left to try pursuit, including La Flaga's Zero, which had lost all of its gun funnels.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**X-105 Strike**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"My young friend might as well surrender, you are correct about that, ZAFT pilot." Veil's voice sounded on the same channel, showing that he had kept it too. "However that changes nothing. Pray tell, what are you and your buddies do, without a ride home?"

Kira's eyes darted to the left, looking at the screen still showing up the tactical plot. The Dragon was making its way towards the fleet, rather slowly. There were four Ginns in pursuit, however they had to content with wave after wave of missiles. It was obviously that Veil would make it, if barely.

Behind those Mobile Suits, Mu, and the Mobile Armors, most of which had survived, were heading straight at the remaining Ginns.

Kira leaned back in his seat. He was dead if he tried anything, however Veil was right. All that needed to happen was for the fleet to take out those two frigates and the ZAFT soldiers were fucked. They won't be going anywhere with limited endurance and life support and even if they took out the rest of the fleet, the Archangel was made of tougher stuff and it was likely to be mostly intact when the dust settled.

As if to confirm that train of thought, said ship shifted its fire, lances of energy stabbing at the two remaining ZAFT ships.

"All right. I surrender." Kira said, suddenly feeling calm. He just knew that whoever was piloting the other Gundam wasn't going to kill him out of hand.

"Damn it!" the ZAFT pilot grunted. His beam saber flashed, shocking Kira.

Who was surprised to be still alive when additional alarms went off. That bastard had cut off his Gundam's arms!

"Surrender accepted," the other pilot spoke in calmer tone, then headed towards the fleet at flank speed, leaving a mostly harmless Strike behind.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Bridge**

**EA Warship "Archangel"**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

"We just lost Amsterdam."

"Keep firing missiles at the approaching Mobile Suits. All beam weapons, keep shooting at the Frigates."

"Leonidas hit Epsilon!"

Ramius smiled at that.

"It's losing acceleration and falling back."

"Suggest to Myrmidon and Leonidas to concentrate on Delta." Ramius ordered the comm operator.

A moment later Garcia gave the same order.

"Nurnberg has been hit, it took a shot directed at Myrmidon."

The last Laurasia knew that it won't last long against the concentrated firepower of the remaining EF capital ships so she was doing her best to strip them from their escorts and give the Ginns better chance. Which was going too well for comfort, with only four combat capable Drakes remaining.

The Captain winced when two streams of energy blazed by the bridge, the windows polarizing to protect the crew's eyes from the light.

"It's done, Ma'am." Badriguel reported with icy voice.

Ramius looked back at the plot. The Archangel's last shot had struck true, Delta's icon blinking, announcing heavy damage.

"Finish off Delta and Epsilon." The Captain's voice was emotionless. They needed those frigates dead for sure. While the heavy weapons were recharging, the battleships nailed Epsilon, their beam cannons shattering the wounded frigates. Moment later, Archangel's own positron cannon spoke one last time and Delta went up in flames.

"Commandant Garcia, all enemy ships in the AO are eliminated." Ramius spoke in her comm, while staring at the approaching Mobile Suits. Her attention was focused on the single red dot between the two groups of Ginns. A Gundam was coming for them.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**Flag Bridge**

**EA Warship "Archangel"**

**In the vicinity of EF Fortress Artemis**

Garcia checked up the comm setting and cleared his throat. This was it. In theory the remains of his fleet should be able to survive against the eleven remaining Ginns, considering that not all of them were going to make it in effective firing range. However that damn stolen Gundam and its Phase Shift armor changed the equation. It could deal a lot of damage before it ran out of power. Perhaps enough to gut the fleet with the assistance of the Ginns.

"This is Commandant Garcia from the Eurasian Federation Armed Forces, calling the approaching ZAFT Mobile Suits. Your tender ships have been destroyed. You have limited energy and life support left, with no friendly ships close enough to retrieve you. I request your surrender, giving my words as an Officer of the Eurasian Federation that you will be treated as per the articles of the Geneva convention and not handled into the hand of Blue Cosmos aligned fools. You have time to decide until any one of your remaining units enters weapons range of this fleet. Then we will take any steps necessary to defend ourselves. Garcia out."

"Not the ball is in their court." Harper muttered and the Commandant nodded grimly in response.

As per the plan, the fleet had stopped firing at the three neares Ginns, awaiting the enemy's response. Just in case, the Archangel was falling back, letting the two Nelsons and the surviving escorts to take the brunt of the attack if the ZAFT personnel decided to go out in a blaze of glory.

**=GSI=**

* * *

**ZAFT Losses:** 2 Laurasia Frigates: Hawkings and Sagan;

25 Ginns;

**EF Losses:** 31 Mobile Armors; X-105 Strike - crippled; heavy torso damage; X-311 light to moderate damage;

2 Drake Escorts: Amsterdam, destroyed; Nurnberg - heavy damage;


End file.
